


Finding My Heaven

by Mickey_kayla



Category: Supernatural
Genre: 30 Days of Destiel, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Castiel and Dean Winchester are Cute, Destiel - Freeform, Destiel Advent Calendar, Destiel Day, Destiel Forever Fic Challenge, Destiel Week, Friendship, Hurt Dean Winchester, Implied Castiel/Dean Winchester, Journey, Love, M/M, With A Twist
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 13:43:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 22
Words: 23,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11945478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mickey_kayla/pseuds/Mickey_kayla
Summary: I’m a typical 29 year old. About 6’2, short brown hair and green eyes. I like fast food, staying out late and picking up chicks. I work at my Uncle’s mechanic shop for a part time job and drive a 67’ Chevy Impala, well I guess I used to; I’m Dean Winchester and I’m dead....





	1. Second Chances

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based off of my original published work Finding Heaven which is available on Amazon. The names and some material has been changed to fit the fandom and feel I was going for because I feel like the story fits for Dean and Cas and I am I huge Supernatural Fan. I would love to hear what you guys think! Comments please!

Chapter 1: Second Chances

I’m a typical 29 year old. About 6’2, short brown hair and green eyes. I like fast food, staying out late and picking up chicks. I work at my Uncle’s mechanic shop for a part time job and drive a 67’ Chevy Impala, well I guess I used to; I’m Dean Winchester and I’m dead.  
It has been exactly one year today, September, 18, 2009,  the anniversary of my death. My death was quick. I was blind sided by a drunk driver and was pronounced dead at the scene.  To answer everyone’s first question, yes,  I made it to that little light at the end of the tunnel that everyone talks about. I made it to Heaven and I left. That’s right, I left Heaven to live on earth, to finish my life.  To feel alive again, but as you can imagine it’s hard to be alive when you’re already dead. To help my situation, I have created a routine in which I follow everyday. First I walk to school, well my Brother’s school that is, and lay on the brick wall in the school yard until the bell rings to end the day, then I watch him walk home, in a not so creepy kind of way. I’m his brother for crying out loud I gotta look out for him. After that I go to my Uncle Bobby’s shop to check up on him and end my day sitting at my favorite window seat at the local dinner, but it’s hard to enjoy your routine when everyone passes through you; literally passes through you. No one can see me, no one can touch me, I can feel the world around me, yet I’m just a distant memory to them, but today would be different.  
I decided to go off my routine today, there was something that was bothering me. Maybe it was the one year anniversary of my death, maybe I thought something would be different today, but I went off; I went home. I walked up to the window of my house or what used to be my house and peered in the window. It didn’t seem like anyone was home so I decided to walk inside. I opened the door and walked inside and made my way to my bedroom.  
“What has gotten into me today, what am I doing here?” I said out loud.  
I was just about to walk into my room when I heard something. It sounded like a woman crying. I hesitate, then walked in. There in front of me was my mother. She was lying on my bed wearing one of my old Plaid, shirts and to make it worse, she was sobbing.  
“Aw mom please don’t cry, I’m right here,” I said running over to her.  
I grabbed for her hand, but my hand went straight through hers. I always hated that, sure I could still eat, I get tired and still have to sleep, it’s like I’m still alive, but I can’t even touch my mother’s hand and that feeling, that feeling of reaching through someone, disgusts me. I retracted my hand, and she shivered as if feeling my presence. I stared at her for a moment then turned around, rushing out the door.  
“This was a terrible idea, what was I thinking, why did I think anything was going to change?” I mumbled to myself walking out the front door.  
It was time to get back on my normal routine, that’s what I was good at, that’s what made me happy, so I headed over to Chi-Chi’s diner.  
It was 5:00 o'clock sharp as I stared out the window at Chi-Chi’s diner. The diner looked like it came from the 50’s. The booths were lined with red, leather benches and the bar with silver stools. The walls were coated in a variety of checkerboard wallpaper and the floor was covered in blue and white diamonds. The sun from the window felt warm on my face. There was a cool breeze flowing in and out from the opening doors which mixed the smell of greasy hamburgers and salty fries throughout the room. Even though I was dead, all my senses still reacted as if I was alive; I can even eat and drink. I touched a strawbe milkshake and a paper bowl with fries which had been left at the table and  new ones materialized. The cold ice cream felt refreshing from the dense air of the restaurant.  
“Another day in paradise,” I said aloud, coated in a sarcastic tone.  
“Paradise huh?”  
I jumped in surprise, he came out of nowhere, a Man about my age, sitting sideways in the booth, his arms crossed. He had Brown hair and porcelain skin giving him a glowing effect.  
“Can you hear me?” I stuttered.  
“Seems to be that way doesn’t it?” he replied as he scanned the room.  
“But how?”  
“I thought it was 2009. What’s up with this get up?”  
“How can you hear me?” I said, my voice growing louder.  
“Because Dean Winchester, I’m your guardian angel,” he replied with a  flawless smile across his face.  
“My what?” I yelled in disbelief.  
“Your guardian angel,” he replied as he took the remainder of the fries.  
I leaned back in the booth, my hands behind my head as I stared in disbelief.  
“You’re my guardian angel,” I repeated.  
“Wow, these are good.”  
“Aren’t angels supposed to have like wings and be wearing togas or something? Not a tie and a trench coat.”  
“Hey, don’t stereotype me! This is my earthly form and I’ve been sent here from the big man himself to give you a second chance, and just for the record they aren’t togas they’re robes.”  
“A second chance...a second chance at what, Heaven? I left there once, what makes you think I would want to go back now?”  
"Let me ask you this. You left the gates of Heaven because you wanted to feel alive again am I right?” he questioned. “But tell me Dean Winchester, do you feel alive?”  
“Of course I do, I’m happy where I am.”  
The hesitance in my voice made the smile on his face grow bigger.  
“You don’t do you?” he said chuckling. “It’s not the same without a beating heart or a simple touch is it? You don’t feel it here.”  
He pointed toward his chest.  
“What my heart?” I asked.  
“No, your soul. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed that aching feeling growing worse and worse. Your soul is dying Dean, and they will be coming for you soon.”  
“My soul is dying?” I yelled, “Wait, who is coming for me?”  
“The demons. Your soul is what allows you to stay here on earth, but now it’s dying and your time is limited. The demons will sense that it’s dying and come to take you.”  
“Take me where?!?!” I yelled.  
“They’ll take you to Hell, Dean,” he sighed.  
I sat in disbelief; I am dying all over again and now demons are after me? Demons. How could everything go wrong so fast? Maybe it was time to go, I didn’t want to go to Hell. Then the image of my Mom passed through my mind.  
“I can’t leave....I can’t leave my family again,” I said looking down.  
“Your family? Your family can’t see you Dean...”  
“That doesn’t matter!” I yelled looking up, “They need me!”  
“Have you ever took the time to think about what they want Dean?”  
“They want me back.”  
“They want you to be safe.”  
We sat in silence another moment.  
“Did you know they pray for you every night? They pray that you are in Heaven, happy, safe and watching over them.”  
I looked down again, surprised by his reply then looked back up.  
“I can’t,” I reply.  
Suddenly he swiped his hand in front of me and a window like object appeared. Within the window are three Men slightly older than me. They had dark hair and black eyes except the one in the middle who had yellow. In front of them was a young girl.  
“Those are demons,” He said, “and that is a soul,” he said pointing at the girl.  
Suddenly the three Men run up to the girl and the biggest one grabs her face. Before I knew it the girl had turned to ash and the window disappeared. All I could do was stare at where the window use to be, terror in my eyes. That could be me, those things are coming after me. I looked down and sat in silence for another moment then looked back up.  
“How much time do I have?”  
He smiled.  
“Seven days,” he replied.  
“One week!” I exclaimed. “Isn’t there a way to stop it?”  
“That’s why I’m here, all we have to do is find your door,” he reassured me.  
“My what?”  
“Your door, you know that light at the end of the tunnel?”  
I nodded  
“Yeah the one I walked through before I got to the gates.”  
“Well that isn’t an all access tunnel; it’s yours and your door will open to your tunnel.”  
“So all I have to do is find my door and I’m saved right?”  
“Yup,” he said standing up from the booth, “So Dean Winchester are you ready for your second chance?”


	2. Starting Line

“So what’s your name anyways?” I said kicking a stone clumsily out of my way.

It was the day after our first encounter, my first day to find my door, and we were finally on our way. The sun was shining almost guiding us down the street. The air had a cool breeze and the birds sang in delight.

“Castiel, my name is Castiel.” 

His steps seemed to almost float across the asphalt and the aura around him seemed to radiate a warm glow.

“So Cas, where are we going to find this door?” I asked.

“I have no clue.”

“What do you mean you have no clue? You mean to tell me you came all the way here to bring me to my door and you don’t even know where it is?”

“Well you started walking down the street so confidently I thought you already knew how to find it,” Castiel replied in defense.

“Well Angel Man what do you suppose we do now?”

He stopped and then made his way over to a shaded tree.

“Well, your door is supposed to be at the place you died; you did die in this town didn’t you?” he questioned leaning up against the cool bark of the tree.

“Acccttuuuulllyy.”

“Actually what?”

“Actually it happened about four hours from here in Norman, Oklahoma.”

“Well Dean don’t you think that would be an important piece of information to share?” he said with an irritated tone to his voice.

“Well, how was I suppose to know? You're the angel here.”

“Well there is no sense in arguing about it. Looks like we got a three day walk ahead of us,” he said pushing off the tree. “ Lets get going.” 

He started walking down the dirt road, so relaxed, like nothing could stop him. My life was in his hands now. A guy or an angel I just met. Whether I like it or not, the life I grew to know is about to change and maybe for the worse.

We had been walking for about an hour with the sun beating down. Sweat began to condensate on my face, and the breeze had completely subsided. Ahead was a small gas station.

“Hey can we..”

“Take a break? I was thinking the same thing, we can camp out in that gas station up there for awhile. It seems to be closed anyway,” he said finishing my sentence.

“How did you know I was going to ask that?”

“I’m your guardian angel Dean, I know more about you than you think,” he replied a smile growing across his face.

The gas station was anything but pretty. The walls painted in dark red were chipping and cobwebs coated the corners. The smell of cold coffee and burnt pizza filled the air. As we flipped on the lights a musty glow filled the room. Across the room stood a rack of torn backpacks and a couple of lighters on the shelf behind.

“Lets get some of those..”

“Lighters and backpacks, good idea.”

“Will you stop doing that!”

“Lets load up.”

I grabbed a blue backpack and a couple lighters and started wandering the room. Cas sat on top of the register counter eating a snickers bar. I stared at him confused.

“What?” he said, his mouth full.

“Do you even get hungry?”

He swallowed and said, “Well no, but it still tastes good, it’s fun to try new food ya know.”

I kept staring at him.

“I’m not like you Dean, I don’t get tired, or hungry, and I don’t technically need to sleep, but who doesn’t like sleeping?”

“Then why did you want to take a break?”

“Because you and that human body of yours obviously need a break,” he laughed pointing at my stomach and taking a sip of pop.

As if on command my stomach let out a loud roar. I looked down at my stomach and then at Cas. We both started laughing and the pop Cas had drank came spewing out his nose. I fell backwards in laughter. This was nice, being around another person, laughing. After wiping the pop from his face, Cas let out a loud yawn and winked at me. I shook my head as he laid down on top of the counter and fell asleep. A few beers and three bags of chips later I found myself dozing off behind the counter. Nothing was going to stop me, I’m going to make it to that door no matter what the cost.


	3. They come in the night

 

“Dean get up.”

I felt a push against my shoulder.

“Dean get up.”

This time the push was harder.

“Will you stop pushing me,” My voice echoing through the building and a hand soon covered my mouth.

“Are you crazy? Lower your voice,” Castiel whispered intensely removing his hand.

“Why, what’s the problem?”

He answered with a hand, pointing toward the parking lot. Three dark figures slithered through the now dark parking lot searching for a challenge. 

"Who are they?" 

"Bad news, lets go," he said creeping towards his bags.

"What do you mean, the demons?" I asked following hesitantly. 

"Precisely. And if we don't get out of here fast then we are in for a fight."

He hurriedly stuffed his bag with as much food as possible and stopped.

"We're gonna have to run for it, stay close to me understand?"

I nodded and he signaled. One, two, three. We sprinted toward the back door ducking and dodging rows of candy bars. Out of the corner of my eye I could see them. The demons. They were pale skinned with jet black hair, black eyes, each one had tattoos racing down their arms. They wore black shirts and dark jeans; one wearing a leather jacket.The one with the jacket must have been the leader, his eyes scanning the lot. His yellow. We were almost to the back door. I frantically dashed behind Castiel. Not thinking, I took a quick glance out the window, but when I turned back it was too late. Candy bars scattered the floor and a loud crash came from the fallen rack that I ran into. I looked up, eyes wide. The demon in the leather jacket was leaning over me, a terrifying smile across his face. He came out of nowhere as if he was never in the parking lot at all.

"Aww poor little Dean fell down, how sad," he leaned in close. " Now lets go home."

He raised his hand and I braced for pain when a flash of light covered the room. Leather jacket took off running toward the exit. I couldn't see anything; everything was bright. I rubbed my eyes frantically trying to see, but all I could make out were two silhouettes. 

"State your name demon." 

The voice came from the silhouette closest to me. It was Cas. 

"An angel, how amusing," he murmured. 

"I said state your name."

"My name is Azazel." 

My eyes finally cleared and the silhouettes became people. Ahead of me was Cas. He had glowing tattoos lining his face and in the doorway was Azazel. Across his eye was a deep burn which, to my amazement, was healing. 

"You're out numbered angel you don't stand a chance," he said, the two other demons walking toward them.

"Don't underestimate me, demon." 

"Don't get cocky now," he chuckled.

Suddenly Castiel leapt toward me, small, glowing, needle like objects flew from his hand and buried themselves into the face of the Goons on the left.  Azazel, surprised by the attack, turned to see his screaming comrade. 

“You angels are so annoying,” he said as chains emerged from his hands. 

Azazel began to swing the chain then tossed it toward Cas. He dodged as the other chain was thrown toward me. The chain wrapped itself around my leg and began dragging me toward the demon.

“I got you now, soul.”

I started to panic, but Cas jumped on the chain; he started running up the chain toward Azazel.Azazel countered by throwing the other chain, but Cas was too quick. He dodged and needles flew from his hand. Azazel covered his face with his arm and the needles embed themselves in his flesh. He looked up, but found Cas next to him.

“I told you not to underestimate me,” he said.

Suddenly he twisted Azazel’s arm backward, the arm holding the chain around my leg, and a popping noise echoed the room. Azazel yelled in pain. The Goons, stunned by what was happening, bolted toward Azazel. Fire on their finger-tips. They shot the fire toward Michael. The room around me was suddenly in flames. Smoke scratched at the inside of my lungs. I stood and tried to get to the back door, but kept stumbling over the fallen candy. _Get up Dean. Get up or you’re going to die._ Again I stood and ran toward the back door. I looked back toward Azazel and Cas as I ran. The Goons were now apart of this giant mess. This didn’t seem to faze Cas. The Goons shot more flames toward Cas some landing on Azazel. 

“Honestly you idiots, hit him not me!” yelled Azazel patting the flames out with his good arm.

I kept running and this time I made it. I frantically pushed through the door and found myself in the back lot. _Okay you’re out. Now what? Run, just run._ I had no clue what I was doing. Fear had taken over my mind. I started running forward, when the wall behind me exploded. A goon tackled me to the ground. He grinned at me. His teeth were yellow and pointed, and his breath smelled like death. My eyes grew wide as flames formed on his finger tips. _Do something Dean. He is going to kill you. Do something. Anything. Do something!_ I kicked with all my might. The goon flew backwards.

“I did it,” I whispered to myself. “Not going to Hell today You son of a bitch!” I yelled at the goon, laughing.

“You!” yelled Azazel. He was now standing in the hole in the wall, in which the goon had made.

The smile I had disappeared immediately. _Where’s Cas? Did they kill him? Am I alone?_ Suddenly Castiel jumped over top of Azazel, pushing him to the floor. He ran toward me as Azazel fell.  Castiel, now crouching next to me, grabbed my arm and covered my eyes. Through the slits between his fingers I could see the light filling the room. My body felt as if it was floating, but something even more strange was happening. My heart was beating.


	4. Back to the Beginning

What happened? Did he get me? Am I in Hell? I started opening my eyes. It was hard to focus, but slowly my vision became clear. I was propped up on a tree, the shade covered my body. It was the tree from the beginning. The tree that Cas leaned against before we even started.

"What happened?” I moaned rubbing my throbbing temple.

"We jumped," he responded. 

Above me sat Cas, a candy bar in his hand.

"Excuse me?" 

"We jumped, teleported, back to where we started." 

"You can do that? Why don’t we just jump to my door then?”

“I’m not allowed to, that would defeat the purpose.”

“What do you mean and what was up with that bright light in the gas station and those needles?"

"You ask a lot of questions,” he said jumping from the tree, he landed silently in front of me like he was as light as a feather, “You need more faith.”

“Well whatever you did or however we got here lets not do it again.”

“I was sent here to save your soul Dean. You don’t think I would come unprepared do you? We, angels, are beings of light and we fight the darkness, demons, but lets face it, this is the twenty-first century we’re not wrestling grown men anymore.”

“So what, you got like super powers or something?”

“Super powers, really?” he said turning around.

“Does that mean those demons have powers to?”

I remembered lying on the floor, how fast Azazel was.

“They are powerful,” he put his hands behind his head and turned back around, “but they don’t have him on their side.”

He was pointing toward the sky. How could God give me a second chance when I left Him. I don’t deserve to go back.

“It’s because He loves you,” he said that flawless smile across his face.

“Don’t tell me you can read minds too?” I yelled in protest.

“It was written all over your face,” he laughed, “now come on lets go find that door.”

He reached out his hand for me to grab. It was time to put my doubts behind me, it was time to put my life in God’s hands. I grabbed his hand and to my surprise he wrapped his arms around me. 

“Now, about not jumping anymore, unless you want to start all over we’re gonna have to go one more time.”

He flipped me around and covered up my eyes.

“Hey wait don’t I get a say in...”

And then everything was bright.


	5. Here's your fries, burn in Hell

 

The sky was painted in shades of pink and red and the air was cool. The sun was just sliding past the horizon and the light began to dim. We had been walking for what seemed like hours and had taken a different route to make sure not to run into the demons again and were now coming up to a small town. We had finished off the last of our candy bars awhile ago and my stomach was now growling in protest. 

"We can get some food in the town up ahead," Cas said, who obviously heard the groan. 

The town was big, but not quite a city. It consisted mostly of suburbs and small business buildings. The roads were lined with streetlights and every open sign was dark. We made our way to a small convenient store. A giant sign hung above it with the words Joe’s Groceries in bright red letters. The inside was as expected. Rows of racks filled the room and the walls covered in freezers and fridges. It might have just been a convenience store, but to my stomach it was a tiny slice of Heaven. I grabbed as much as I could. Candy bars, chips, pre-made sandwiches, even those little saltine crackers everyone hates. If this was going to be my last meal for a while, I was going to make the most of it. 

“You ready to go?” asked Cas a twizzler hanging out of his mouth.

“Yup,” I replied trying to zip up my bag.

“You got enough food there?” He said laughing as I pushed the food down and finally zipped the bag.

“You can never be too careful.”

“But you can always be too fat,” he laughed.

We headed back out to the street, Me lugging my backpack around and Castiel still laughing at me.

"Where to next?" I asked stuffing a ham sandwich into my mouth.

"Well, we should probably find somewhere to sleep." 

"Well, we have plenty of options."

He scanned the buildings.

"We'll stay in that old house over there."

The house was made of rotting black wood. The front window was broken and the door was half off its hinges. The yard full of dead grass. 

"What do you mean stay there? That looks like a horror movie waiting to happen, why can't we just stay in one of the houses in this SAFE neighborhood?" I yelled.

"Well unless you want complete strangers walking through you while you sleep, I suggest you start walking and stay with me in that house," he said pointing toward the broken building. 

Frowning I shoved past him and started walking.

"You are a difficult one aren't you? I don't know what I was thinking when I picked you." 

"What do you mean you picked me?" I stopped walking.

He stared at me as though his eyes were piercing my soul. He started walking toward me.

“I chose to be your guardian angel, I could have picked anyone of the lost souls wandering this earth and I picked you, so if you don’t mind cooperating just a tad more that would be wonderful.”

He walked past me toward the house, but I stood in silence. He picked me. Why me?

“Because you reminded me of myself,” he said answering my thought.

I spun around, he was staring at me again.

“Now lets go.”

I jogged up next to him and we both made our way up to the old house. As we walked up the front porch the stairs moaned. I went to grab the door handle, but was stopped by a reaching hand. 

“Wanna see something cool?” he asked.

I nodded, curiosity getting the best of me. He reached for the door handle, but when his fingers touched the metal the rust and grime turned into a sparkling silver. All I could do was stare in awe.

“You haven't seen anything yet,” he said walking into the house.

We stopped in the middle of room. Cobwebs coated the walls and the furniture was covered in holes. The floor was stained with black and brown splotches and the ceiling looked ready to collapse. He opened our bags and tossed the food onto the floor.

“Okay now you’re gonna have to close your eyes again.”

I stared in disagreement. 

“Go on close em.”

I closed them, but only for a second. As I opened them the world around me had changed into an earthly Heaven. The furniture looked as if it was brand new. The ceiling was covered in a mosaic of windows. The floor was shining with a new layer of stained oak and the walls seemed to sparkle, but what really surprised me was the food. What use to be old candy and stale chips was now a feast, hamburgers, french fries and to my left a strawberry shake.

“I thought a familiar meal would make you feel better,” he said replying to my facial expression.

“How did you do this?"

“Don’t underestimate the power of the Lord, Dean.”

“You never seize to amaze me.”

“Well thanks,” he said, a smile on his face, “but this isn’t permanent. If the demons touch any of this it will turn back, plus it takes up a lot of my energy, this is one treat we won’t be getting much of, so enjoy it.”

“Well lets eat all this food before they get here,” I said reaching for the fries.

“Agreed.”

The food was a well needed familiarity, but at the back of my mind all I could think about was my beating heart. How my heart had been still until we teleported and how it had stopped again. 

“Hey Cas.”

“Yes sir?” he responded shoving fries into his mouth.

“When we jumped, my heart, it started beating again, why is that?”

He stopped eating and looked at me.

“You felt that huh?”

I nodded.

“Well your heart started beating again because the light we jumped in was part of Heaven and once you’re in Heaven you’re reborn.”

“Reborn?”

“Ya, your earthly body is just a shell for your soul and when you’re in Heaven your soul is set free and is reborn like mine.”

“So I’ll be an angel.”

“No, I was chosen to be an angel.”

“So you started out like me?”

“Sort of, I was five when I passed and when I went to Heaven I was reborn. I grew up there and long story short I became an angel, but the catch is if I die here on earth my soul will be reborn back to its original form.”

“So you would be five again?”

“Yup, but how bout we change the subject kay, we’re gonna have a long trek tomorrow how bout we get some sleep?” he stood and walked to the nearest chair.

I never realized how big a risk he had. He was risking his life for me.

“Hey Dean.”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks for caring, night.”

“Oh, um, ya, no problem,” I said, but he was already asleep.

I wandered over to the couch, today seemed to have drug on and the soft cushions were soothing to my sore body. My eyes slowly began to shut and before I knew it I silently drifted away in a well needed sleep, but this new paradise wouldn’t last long. Hours passed and I opened my eyes to the sound of a scratching at the window. Castiel was still sleeping on the chair next to me and the lights had been turned off. There was another scratch at the window. I sat up silently. 

“Maybe it’s a raccoon or something, it might not be the demons, _”_ I thought trying to reassure myself.

I made my way over to the window stepping over all the wrappers and the occasional fry. It was dark outside and the reflection of the moon flooded through the window. There was a small scratch across the window, but even weirder was a line of blood that dripped down from it. Hesitantly, I peered out. The neighborhood was silent and dark. The street lights making pockets of light. I shut the door not noticing the door knob had its grime back.

“Dean stop being so paranoid, there’s nothing here,” I said aloud ready to head back to bed.

I turned around and started back to the couch when a shock of pain split through my back. The window behind me had been shattered from the outside in and shards of flying glass forced their way into my flesh. I fell to the floor in pain.

“You need to trust your gut more.”

A dark figure stood above me. It was Azazel. I tried to crawl away, but it was too late. With a swift kick to the stomach I rolled into the now rotten wall. Everything around was as it use to be, old and rotten.

“You know I was gonna make this quick, but your little angel friend really pissed me off back there so I’ll be sure to pay him back with your agony.”

He started walking toward me, fire blazing from his fingertips. He was like a killer from a horror movie ready to take a life at any moment. I tried to call for help, but only a small noise came out.

“Time to go little soul.”

A blast of light radiated behind Azazel and he flew into the couch. It was Cas. 

“You bastard!” screamed Azazel. 

A trail of blood dripped from the corner of his mouth and smoke came from his back. Castel was now next to me, his eyes and tattoos glowing.

“You okay?”

“I’ll, I’ll be fine, thanks for that.”

I stood slowly.

“Don’t get distracted now,” Azazel laughed.

Black lightning shot from his fingertips and screams filled the air.  It was as though the pain and agony of the souls in Hell were formed into the lightning. Cas in response swiped his hand across the air creating a wall of light seconds before the bolt hit. To my surprise I started crying. The screams of all those tortured souls biting at my ears. Castiel was unfazed as though he had heard them thousands of times. With no hesitation he shoved me to the ground and pushed the chair in front of me.

"Stay here." 

He bolted toward the stairs in the corner, his footprints leaving shards of light behind him. Needles of light shot out from his hands flying toward Azazel.Azazel stumbled to the side-just dodging. Michael, now on the stairs, threw a kick to his left and hit the second demon who suddenly appeared next to him.  The demon flew off the stairs hitting the wall by the door. 

_How did they find us so fast? Were we really going to have to fight our whole trip? This is crazy. I can’t do this._

“Your soul seems to be frightened, angel,” laughed Azazel appearing in front of Cas.

“He is none of your concern!” yelled Cas hitting Azazel as though he knew he would appear there.

His body tumbled down the rotting stairs, blood spewing from his mouth. Just before reaching the floor he disappeared again reappearing behind Cas. He threw a kick which Castiel caught, holding Azazel still.

“It’s time for you to leave!” yelled Cas punching Azazel in the gut.

The force of the punch lifted him off the floor and Cas, as though it was rehearsed, grabbed him by the leg and jumped off the stairs. Once in the air he whipped him into the floor with surprising ease. Floorboards hit the chair in front of me and the sound of the impact shook the walls around us. 

Everything was happening so fast, I didn’t realize one of Azazel’s goons was coming toward me and dug his nails into my leg. I screamed in pain as he began dragging me toward the door. Castiel fell to the floor, landing on Azazel’s face pushing him deeper. He started running toward me and the other goon, appearing out of nowhere, threw the couch in front of him. Cas flipped over the couch landing on the goon’s face and pushed himself towards me. I was glad he was on my side. Needles shot from his hand and shot through the goon’s arm forcing him to let go of my leg. He wailed in pain grabbing at his arm. Before I knew it Cas was there beside me. 

“What are you doing? Fools!,” yelled Azazel pulling his face out of the floor. “Go, don’t let them get away!”

Without notice Cas grabbed my hand and started running toward the door. 

"Can't you just teleport us again?" I yelled trying to keep up with him.

"I used too much energy; we won't make it far enough."

"Well, we have to do something!" 

"Hold on!"

His fingers around my hand began to glow and a bright light shot through the air. Suddenly we were about 100 feet farther ahead. Another flash came and again we were another 100 feet farther. Flash after flash we moved forward until the old house was far behind us. We had to have made it two miles when he dropped to his knees. His normal radiant glow was now dim. We were on the outskirts of a small rural town. A few trees scattered the roaming fields and not too far ahead was a dirt road. 

“Hey man, you okay?” I said touching his shoulder, but recalling it back just as fast. 

His skin was as cold as ice. 

“Yeah I’ll be fine,” he replied with an obvious lie, “ what about you, how’s your back?”

In all the chaos I had completely forgotten about the shattered window. I reached to touch my back and my hand came back a bloody mess. The pain replaced my fading adrenaline and the color in my face flushed.

“Do you trust me?” he asked walking toward me.

“Yeah of course, why?”

“Because this is going to hurt.”

He stared at me with blue, sympathetic eyes.

I sat down and for a moment hesitated to answer.

“Do it,” I responded.

I leaned forward, the cuts opening farther and farther as he tore my shirt from its seams. My back was a mosaic of glass and blood. Shards protruded from my skin.

“You ready?”

“Yeah,” I said closing my eyes, bracing for pain.

The pain was nearly intolerable. The shards of glass tearing at my flesh as Cas slowly removed each and every piece. Screams of pain echoed the night air. After what seemed like hours the last piece of glass was removed and now a glowing light shimmered behind me. The pain subsiding almost as if it were never there. When I finally realized what was happening. He was healing me with his own life force. I tried to spin around, but he had a firm grip on my shoulders.

“What are you doing? You already lost enough energy-you’re gonna kill yourself!”

“I’m here to protect you Dean and I will gladly give my own life to save yours.”

“I refuse to find this door without you!" I broke his grasped and spun around just in time to catch his falling body.

“You are stubborn aren't you?” he replied closing his eyes. 

“You should talk.”

He smiled and let out a tiny laugh and to my surprise handed me his trench coat. 

I didn't even realize he took it off. He was wearing a white dress shirt and tie now and on the back was an angel wing pattern, but real feathers were falling from the shirt.

“Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a little nap.”

“You earned it bud,” I replied watching as his body slowly fell limp in my arms. I’d have to ask him about the feathers later.

I stared into the black sky. The stars seemed to smile down on me as if God had lit tiny candles in the sky to shed light on our way. Who knew that I would be sitting in the cold grass holding my guardian angel? Or that I would be running from demons? Or that I would have given up my chance at paradise? That I would be dead at 26. 


	6. The Newbie

It was high noon when I finally woke up. The warm sun beat down on my face and the chirping of birds soothed my ears. We were now about 50 miles from Norman. I still hadn't asked Castiel about the feathers and although he seemed to be fine, I knew he was avoiding the subject so I left it alone, but I couldn't stop staring at the design on the back of his shirt.

"So you're still wondering about the feathers huh?"

His question startled me. How long had he know I was staring?

"What...what do you mean?"

"Don't play dumb, you've been staring at my shirt so hard I'm surprised there isn't a hole burnt into it."

I looked down in embarrassment. 

"Well I mean its just...wait what's that?"

Not too far ahead was the outline of what seemed like a person. It was walking away from us. From what I could see it hadn't noticed us yet.

“Is it a human?” I asked.

“No, definitely a soul.”

I’d never met another soul before.

"Who is it?" I asked. “Is it dangerous?”

"I'm not sure, but we're about to find out-I’m not taking any chances."

Without noticed he jumped. A bright light showered around me. I looked toward where the figure was. From above Castiel reappeared tackling the figure to the ground. A little over kill if I do say so myself. I sprinted toward the both of them. Cas was sitting on top of the figure waving at me-obviously proud of his accomplishment.  As I got closer the figure’s features came into view. It was a guy who seemed to be a little older than us. He was wearing a black ACDC shirt and a black headband which held back his long hair and a large brown pack on his back.

"Look, I got him did you see it, it was pretty awesome," Castiel cheered.

"Ya it was definitely something," I responded.

"Hey, Happy Gilmore, you mind getting off of me?"

It was the Guy.

"Not unless you tell us your name," said Cas.

"I don't need to tell you anything now get off." 

"Nope."

"You might as well tell him your name, cause he's not gonna get off."

"Fine-it’s Nash. Now get off!"

"What, what was that? I can't hear you," Cas said sarcastically. 

"My name is Nash!"

"Nash, interesting," Cas said standing up, "nice to meet you," he extended his hand.

Nash shoved it off and stood up brushing the dirt off his black shirt. He was a couple inches taller than me and skinny as a pole. 

"Now if you don't mind I'm gonna be on my way and I would appreciate you not tackling me again."

He turned to walk away, but stopped just after he passed Cas. 

"Wait a sec, you're an angel aren't you?"

"Yes sir."

"So you can help me? My angel’s gone I told him I didn't want help, but I changed my mind and now you can help me. I can just go with you through your door." 

"Um...Nash that's not really how it..." 

"Cas, can I talk to you a sec, please," I interrupted. 

"Um...ya, I guess."

I grabbed him by the tie and pulled him a couple steps away.

"What are you doing? We don't need another enemy against us, and this is the only time I've met someone like me!" I whispered. 

"He's not like you. He passed up a second chance; he's a danger to us."

"He's no more of a danger then you are," I whispered even louder.

"Don't you whisper yell at me!"

"I'm telling him he's coming with us."

"Don't you do it."

I smiled and walked back toward Nash.

"You can come," I said confidently. 

"Sweet, thanks bro you won't regret it."

Castiel started to walk past me, but stopped to whisper a last remark.

"Oh you'll regret it," he whispered.

I stared as he walked past me.

"What's up with him?" Nash questioned. 

"He's just being a crabby little angel Man."

But Castiel was right, I would regret this for more reasons than one.


	7. Regrets

"You got anymore food bro?" Nash asked.

"Unfortunately, you already ate it all bro," replied Cas, an irritated tone in his voice.

"Dean you have one jerk of an angel."

"And you have one feminine head of hair," Cas snapped back.

The past two hours have been filled with nagging, sly remarks and sighs. And let’s not forget about the food. Although he was skinny as a pole, Nash managed to horf down two backpacks worth of food. It's our third day into our journey and we are about an hour out from Norman. We were a day behind schedule because of the demons, and Nash was not helping.

"Who was your angel anyways?" Castiel asked.

"Emanuel."

"May the Lord have mercy on his soul." 

"You know you are something angel Man."

"And you breed with the mouth of a goat."

"Aren't you suppose to be like nice to everyone?" 

"Aren't you suppose to be fat?"

"Okay guys lets take a deep breathe, shall we?" I suggested. 

"Stay out of it!" They both yelled at the same time.

“If this keeps up the next hour might as well be another week,” I thought to myself, “ maybe I should talk to Cas again one on one.”

“Dean, I’m not really in a talking mood.”

Well that takes care of that. So much for a peaceful rest of my journey.

"Hey Cas," I said hesitantly. 

"What?"

"Do you want your coat back?"

I hadn't realized it up till now, but I had been wearing his trench coat for the past two days even though I had gotten a new shirt at the store in the small town we jumped by. Not that I mind.

"Ya toss it here."

I pulled it off and tossed it over to him which he caught without even turning around. I hadn't noticed, but we were walking on the freeway, the same one I was driving on the night I died. Back then I never could have imagined that I’d be blindsided. That my car would roll four times. That I would die. 

"Reminiscing in the past isn't going to help the situation," Cas said.

"What are you talking about?" asked Nash.

"Don't worry about it." 

I opened my mouth to respond back, but I couldn’t find the words to say.

Our light was fading and the moon was now visible. The amount of cars that were passing us on the freeway grew smaller as we exited onto a smaller, secluded road. There was no way we would make it to Norman in the night and there was no towns close enough for us to camp out in.

"I guess we're camping out in the woods tonight," sighed Castiel.

We walked through the woods until Cas finally approved of a spot. There was an open circle with trees surrounding it hidden deep within the woods. Cas leaned up against the tree and motioned for me to pick a spot to sleep. The dirt wasn’t a very comfortable looking bed compared to the couches we were on before, but I guess it would have to do. I started brushing away some stones and old branches and sat down.

"Dude I actually have a tent,” said Nash nonchalantly.

"Seriously you have a tent?" I exclaimed, standing and brushing the dirt off of myself.

"I guess we can get some use out of you after all," said Cas. 

Nash set down his bag and pulled out the tent, but my excitement slowly deceased as he set it up. The tent was tiny, only able to fit one, maybe two people in it. Cas scanned it up and down not seeming surprised.  He grabbed the tree branch of the tree behind us and began climbing. He sat comfortably between two branches, gave us a wave and popped the collar of his coat.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"I'm sleeping in the tree," he responded.

"We can make room in the tent. Cas get down from there!"

"I'd rather sleep in the tree then cuddle up with you two in the tent thank you very much." 

He pulled his collar higher to shadow his eyes. There was no changing his mind. After several minutes of awkwardly rearranging ourselves, Nash and I finally were comfortable enough to sleep. When I woke it was dark. Nash was snoring next to me and I could see a light outside of the tent. It was a fire. I sat up and carefully unzipped the tent. Outside was a small fire and Cas was sprawled out next to it. He seemed to be asleep. Shadows danced across the trees and bats swooped up and down the sky. There was a cool breeze which felt good against the humid air. It would rain. It was oddly peaceful. A familiarity from when I was alive, when I went camping with my family. I missed those days. I missed being alive. I missed my family, my bed, my house. I missed waking up every morning just to do the same routine I always did. I remember complaining about how terrible I thought my life was, but now that it’s gone I can't imagine why I thought it was so bad. And what if I don't like Heaven? What if all this work is for nothing? I sat down and pulled my knees to my chest. Then I looked at Cas.  He was on his side, his coat under his head used as a pillow. The wing pattern on his shirt was back to normal as if it never changed at all. I started to turn away when I noticed it. A lone feather coming out of the corner of his shirt. It was on his left shoulder which he was laying on.  The temptation was killing me and finally I couldn't hold myself back. Silently I crawled toward him. I was slow making sure not to make noise and wake him. Crack! I stepped on a small branch and the sound bounced off the trees echoing around us. I froze as he moved. Did I wake him up? Then he settled. I moved closer until he was less than an arms length away. I reached for the feather, hesitated just before I reached it, but I couldn't let my nerves get the best of Me. Again, I reached for the feather my fingers just about to touch its tip when I was tackled to the floor a glowing needle to my neck. His eyes were glowing and his tattoos were visible again. The feather, which flew into the air, fell silently onto my forehead.

"Hi," I said shakily.

He blinked. Our faces inches apart. We stared at each other for a moment and my cheeks started to redden. He stood up and walked back over to where he was laying. The needle he was holding sunk back into his hand and his eyes and tattoos stopped glowing.

"Is there a reason you were reaching for me?"

I stood up and cradled the feather in my palm.

"Oh I see, the feather huh?"

"Sorry."

"You shouldn't let your curiosity get the best of you like that Dean," he said staring at me. His stare got the best of Me as if I was melting. What was this feeling. I couldn’t put my finger on it.

"Yeah," I responded, quickly turning away, "is this from your wings?"

"That's right."

"I see."

The feather was small. Oddly enough it gave off its own heat and felt warm in my hand. The tips of it were silver and it had a faded glow to it.

"That one is actually quite old."

I hadn't noticed, but he had walked over and was sitting next to me.

"Normally they glow much brighter than that."

I combed through it with my calloused finger.

“You know, my feathers are indestructible,” he said proudly.

I kept staring at it. How could such a small, fragile looking thing be indestructible?

“Here let me see it,” he said taking it from my hands.

He set it on the dirt floor and traced two lines from either side of it. After he was done the lines and the feather looked like a necklace. What could he possibly be doing? But then it began to glow. A silver chain rose out of the dirt drawing and connected itself to the feather. He reached down and picked it up.

“Here you go,” he said putting the necklace into my hand,” now you don’t have to worry about losing it.”

He smiled. I raised the chain to my head and wrapped it around my neck. The feather was warm on my chest. I looked up at him.

“Don’t you even get sentimental,” he said standing up.

He put his hand on my head and ruffled up my hair. 

“Hey now, don’t you belittle me, we are the same age you know.”

“Who are you kidding kid, I’m a hundred and twenty nine,” he chuckled.

“A hundred and twenty nine!”

“Thats right, a hundred and twenty nine.”

“I thought you said you grew up in Heaven?”

“I did, but you get to be seen in whatever form you want in Heaven, and other people may see you a different way than how you see yourself.”

“And out of all ages you chose to be 29?”

“Well ya, 29 seemed fun; I mean come on look at me I’m gorgeous,” he said posing.

We looked at each other for a moment and then started laughing. It was a well needed laugh. 


	8. There's a first time for everything

The sun started to rise from the east. The birds sang and the fire crackled. We hadn’t eaten for a while and since Nash ate what little we had, we had to hunt for our breakfast. We were not too far from camp. Nash was to my left and Cas to my right. I’ve never really been hunting before and from what I could tell I wasn’t very good. We had seen two rabbits and I had scared both of them away. I made a makeshift-spear and nearly poked Cas’ eye out and when I was reaching for some bird eggs out of a tree I slipped and fell, dropping the eggs, two of which fell and broke on my head. It was official; I am not a hunter. And that leads us to now. We were behind a couple bushes and ahead of us was another rabbit. 

“You know I’m a pretty good shot,” said Nash.

“Be quiet,” whispered Cas. 

“Hey, I’m just saying.”

The rabbit looked up and soon after took off. Cas sprinted after in a wild rage.

“I’m so hungry,” he yelled running after the rabbit.

Glowing needles flew threw the woods. I ran behind him, but he was too fast. 

“Will you slow down?!” I yelled after him, “you don’t even get hungry!

“I haven’t had rabbit in forever!”

“Cas,” I shouted after him, “did you hear me, slow down!” 

“Never!”

He jumped behind a bush and everything went silent. We walked closer to the bush. An eerie laugh rang through the air as he stood up, the rabbit in his hand coated with at least 20 needles.

“I got him!”

He danced around. He was like a child.

I looked behind me to see Nash trudging through the bushes. By the look of it he must have fallen quite a few times. Dirt coated his face and twigs were sticking out of his ponytail. He made his last few steps until he was right in front of Me and collapsed to his knees. 

“Okay,” he huffed, “that’s enough running for today.”

“You know you’re pretty slow for being such a limber guy,” said Cas.

Nash raised his hand up to protest, but no words came out. Cas walked over to him and shoved the rabbit in his face

“I got him,” he said proudly.

Nash, who was looking down, looked up to find a rabbit centimeters from his face. He fell back into a bush in surprise.

“What’s your problem,” he yelled trying to get out of the bush.

“Me, I don’t have the problem, you’re the slow one!”

Here we go again with the arguing. I watched for a moment as they bickered and decided enough was enough. I began to walk over to them when something caught my ear. 

“Do you hear that?” I asked.

“What!” yelled Castiel looking at Me.

“Listen.”

“It sounds like a stream.”

“And you know what that means don’t you?”

“Fish!”

Turns out we were right, there was a stream. After removing my shirt and pants, I waded into the cool water. 

“Okay now don’t get me wet okay?”

“Cannonball!” yelled Cas, jumping into the water.

A wave of water crashed into me. I was soaked.

“Didn’t I say not to get me wet, you fool!”

“It’s been three days whiny pants, you need a bath anyways,” he said, now floating on his back.

After considering what we had been through he was right, I was disgusting. I slowly sank into the water scrubbing the dirt and grime off my face.

“Nash aren’t you coming in?” I asked.

“Um no. I’m not much of a water person,” he said picking the twigs from his hair.

“You can’t swim can you?” said Cas laughing.

“Hey man it’s not funny.”

“You’re right it’s hilarious,” he laughed, “ouch, don’t throw rocks.”

“Thats what you get jerk,” said Nash. “Ow!”

“Doesn’t feel too nice does it?” said Castiel sticking out his tongue. “Hey that one’s huge, don’t throw that!”

“Hey Nash?”

“You say something Dean?” he asked mid throw.

“Ya, can I ask you something?”

“Sure why not.”

“How exactly did you die?”

He dropped the rock and stared at the ground.

“Hey man, I’m sorry I didn’t mean to pry, I just.”

“I drowned,” he said interrupting me.

That got Cas’ attention. I could tell by the look on his face that he regretted his earlier comment.

“I went out partying with my friends and we had been drinking. One of the guys thought it would be fun to go to this lake nearby and go night swimming. There was a wooden dock you could walk on. I would go sit on the end and watch them swim, but one of them snuck up behind me and pushed me in failing to realize that I couldn’t swim. They all stared and laughed as I grabbed at the surface trying to keep my head up, splashing around, gasping for air and finally I went under. The last thing I remember is hitting the cold bottom and the last speck of light fade away.”

An awkward silence filled the air.

“Nash I...” started Cas.

“Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t matter anymore and now I got you guys and can go to Heaven again,” he said smiling as he washed the dirt off his face.

Castiel looked down ashamed. He knew Nash couldn’t come with them.

“Nash, I don’t think you understand, you can’t,” he started, but was interrupted.

“Did you see that?” I interrupted

Something swam past me and then again. Cas stared at Nash for another moment then looked at me.

“What are you talking about Dean?”

“Look.”

A small sparkle flew through the water.

“It’s a fish!” yelled Cas.

He jumped toward the animal and went under the water, when he arose, to my surprise, he had a fish in his hand.

“You are one talented man,” I chuckled and then turned back toward Nash.

I’d been judging him. Just by the little time I had spent with him, not taking the time to stop and think about what he had been through. I guess a person’s experiences really do make them who they are.

Cas ended up catching three more fish and later we made our way back to camp, there we cooked the rabbit and fish and made sure everything was eaten to the bone.

“We better get moving, let's head back out to the road,” said Cas.

“But we just ate, how about we take a nap,” complained Nash.

“Great idea, you take a nap and we’ll leave.”

“You’re hilarious,” said Nash sarcastically.

“Lets go, hippie boy.”


	9. So close

We packed up camp and started back toward the freeway. The sun was covered by the looming clouds which, over time, became darker and darker.

“Something doesn’t feel right,” said Castiel looking toward the sky.

“What do you mean?” I replied.

“The closer we have gotten to Norman the darker the sky has gotten and the cars have stopped coming.”

I hadn’t noticed it before, but he was right. The sky over Norman was nearly black. 

“If that’s what I think it is then it’s gonna get rough,” said Cas.

“What do you mean, what do you think it is?” I replied.

He stopped walking.

“So you’ve finally found us,” he said spinning around, pushing Nash and I behind him.

“You’re a hard man to find, now there is no point in resisting, just give me the Man.”

It was Azazel. His two minions on either side.

“Who are they?” asked Nash shakily.

“We have come this far demon, what makes you think I’ll give up so easily now?” said Castiel.

“Seriously bro, who are they?” yelled Nash.

“Nash shut up,” I whispered.

“Well well well, what do we have here,” said Azazel, walking toward us, “Getting a little risky letting him tag along don’t you think angel?”

“Don’t come any closer.”

“Why don’t you just let me take Him off your hands, it’s not like you can take Him with you anyways.”

“What’s he talking about Dean?” stuttered Nash.

I looked at Cas in desperation not knowing what to tell him.

“You didn’t tell him did you? Oh that’s a dirty move,”laughed Azazel, his minions laughing with him.

“Shut your mouth!” Cas yelled back.

“You really didn’t tell him did you?”

He took a step closer.

“What is he talking about, what didn’t you tell me?” Nash said frantically.

“Your angel friend has been keeping secrets from you little soul,” said Azazel, a smile crawling across his pale face.

“What kind of secrets?”

“Don’t listen to him Nash,” I yelled.

“Tell me!”

He backed away from me. The sky grew darker and rain poured from the sky.

“When they invited you on this little adventure did they happen to mention that you can’t go through Aidan’s door?” said Azazel.

“I said shut up!” yelled Castiel.

“Is that true Dean, can I really not come with you?”

“Nash I..”

“Can I?!”

“No,” I said looking down.

“But why, why would you lie?”

“Because they are cruel beings,” said Azazel, “ but I can help you, I can take you away from this world,” he said reaching out his hand, “ just come with me.”

Nash looked at Me and I shook my head no. He started walking toward Azazel, the rain plastering his loose hair to his face.

“Nash don’t listen to him,” said Cas.

He walked past Castiel, ignoring his warning.

“That’s right, come to Me little soul,” hissed Azazel.

“He’s going to kill You Nash,” I screamed.

That got his attention. He turned around a looked toward me.

“He what?”

But it was too late. Azazel was behind him and with a quick push his hand was through Nash’s heart. He stood paralyzed. A fire sprang from where his heart use to be and slowly started to consume him.

“Nash!” I yelled in panic as I started running toward him, but Cas stopped me holding me back as I thrashed to get away.

“Dean,” Nash whimpered. A tear slowly rolled down his cheek as he disappeared with nothing left, but scattered ash on the pavement.

Cas didn’t hesitate, he charged for the demon on the right as I dropped to my knees. A roar came from the demon as his face was consumed by light. He ran violently around clawing at his boiling skin. Castiel sprinted toward the next demon, but Azazel was fast. He teleported to Castiel’s path kicking him to the floor. 

“Not a chance angel.”

He shot a blast of dark screams and Cas was sent flying across the pavement. I sat motionless on the road not comprehending what was happening. 

“Dean!” screamed Cas, getting to his feet.

He shot forward, his eyes and tattoos now glowing. Azazel countered his punch with another shot of screams which resulted in an explosion-both flying backward. Both landed on their feet sliding down the pavement. Cas countered with needles scattering through the air. 

“That was not your soul to take!” yelled Cas.

Azazel dodged; his speed was incredible. He launched himself toward Cas a black chain sprang from his palm and wrapped itself around Cas’ leg.

“You brought that fate upon him!” yelled Azazel pulling the chain up. 

Castiel flew into the air just to be brought back down and crashed into the pavement. What was I suppose to do? I didn’t stand a chance against them. I watched helplessly as Castiel was again slammed into the pavement. _I can’t just sit here and let him get beaten like that._ I made my decision. I took off running toward the other minion who was watching the fight. I didn’t have a weapon, but that didn’t matter. Then I remembered, Cas’ feather. He said it was indestructible and it was an object of light. It was my only chance. I lunged toward the demon, tackling him to the ground. We rolled a couple feet as I tried to hold him down.

“Dean, what are you doing?!” yelled Cas.

I could barely hear him. I blocked everything out. The Goon shot a small bolt of lighting which skimmed my arm.  I ripped the necklace from my neck and prayed it would work 

“Ahhhhhhhhhh!” I yelled thrusting the feather toward the demon. 

The feather pierced through the demons eye as if it was as hard as stone. He wailed in pain as veins of light spread across his face. I rolled out of the way as he shriveled into ash. I stared at the pile. I couldn’t believe it worked. I stood and turned toward Cas and Azazel. Cas had golden blood dripping from his face, a cut across his eye and arms. They were standing apart both panting. Azazel had black blood coming from his lip and his arm, his leather jacket torn.

“Looks like he’s getting daring.” said Azazel.

Azazel looked toward me and for a split second we made eye contact. His yellow eyes filled with rage. He smiled and bolted toward me. Castiel seeing him coming toward me shot a swarm of needles toward him, but it was too late. Azazel bent backwards. The needles flew over him. Again he started running toward me. I turned to run tripping over my feet. He was catching up fast. He grabbed the back of my shirt and threw me to the ground.

I managed to flip over and kicked. To my surprise I made contact and he stumbled backwards. I stood up and started to run again.

“Dean, give me your hands.”

It was Cas. I put my hands up without turning around, afraid Azazel would catch up. Suddenly my feet weren’t on the ground anymore, I was flying. I looked up and there was Cas and from out of his back were wings.

“Hold on tight.”

I nodded and grasped his arms.

“I have had just about enough of this,” yelled Azazel wiping the blood from his mouth. 

He raised his hands. The darkness above Norman started getting closer and closer. He threw his arms forward and the darkness covered the sky racing toward us. Screams tore at our ears and the wind ripped through the air.

“Cas, I think we’re in trouble!”

“This power isn’t normal for a demon, he must have made a contract!”

“A what?”

“A contract with the devil,  more power in exchange for more screams, his screams, he’ll be tortured!”

My eyes widened realizing what was about to happen.

“We don’t stand a chance,” I breathed, my grip on Cas’ arms tightening.

We picked up speed, but the darkness was too fast. Skeleton hands reached out from the darkness grabbing for us. When suddenly it was all around us. We spun violently around as we were sucked into a vortex of screams and darkness.  

“Don’t let go of my hand,” He yelled.

We were being thrown like ragdolls, nothing around us but darkness. The screams clawed at my ears. I closed my eyes trying to block them out, but it was no use. Tears started to rolled down my face and I yelled out a terrified scream when I felt Cas’ hand hold even tighter on mine and pulled me in wrapping his wings around both of us. 

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth, as it is in Heaven,” he yelled, “Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”

Light began to grow around us.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory forever.”

The light now surrounded us. It became blinding.

“Amen!”

Everything around us seemed to be lost in the light. The screams became silent. The world seemed to stand still. Cas opened his wings and I opened my eyes, but the person before me wasn’t the Cas I knew. This was his true form. His eyes were nothing but light, his skin flawless and his tattoos gone. His hair was now shoulder length and he wore a long white robe, but the most spectacular part was his wings. Each feather was a radiant white with shining silver tips. Each wing was at least six feet long. To my surprise I began to cry again, but not out of fear out of pure awe. I’d never seen anything so beautiful. This was my first glimpse of Heaven. I opened my mouth, but couldn’t speak. He lifted his finger to his lips signaling me not to speak and then reached toward me placing his finger on my heart. My body suddenly felt warm and weightless. My eyes started to close, I tried to keep them open, but couldn’t and then it was gone.

When I woke it was still dark. From what I could tell I was in a church and was laying across a pew. The moonlight shone through a giant stained glass window and a rainbow of colors spread across the room. Sitting on the windowsill was Cas and he was back to his normal 29 year old self. I sat up and he must have noticed because he jumped down and started walking toward me. 

“How do you feel?” he asked.

“I’m fine.”

It was weird hearing my own voice as though I wasn’t really speaking.

“You went through a lot I won’t blame you if you want to stay the night here.”

“Where exactly is here?”

“It’s a cathedral about three hours out from Norman, we ended up here when we jumped, who knows why.”

“Three hours!”

“Yeah.”

“That means we’re two hours from where we were before! We need to leave now.”

“Slow down, just rest for a bit.”

“No Cas, we need to go now,” I said standing up.

“Why are you being so stubborn!”

“Lets go,” I started walking toward the door.

“Dean stop,” he said grabbing my shoulder. “What’s the big hurry?”

“Because I saw it,” I yelled slapping his hand away, “I saw a glimpse of Heaven, of where I get to be!”

Cas stared at me for a moment and then walked out the door. I don’t care what he thinks, I know what I want and I’m going to get it.


	10. Day Five

We hadn’t been more than a half hour out from the cathedral when the sun started to rise. This was the beginning of our fifth day. We spent most of the time in silence. I didn’t know what to say to him. All I could think about was seeing him in his true form. Feeling so warm and weightless. He was beautiful and those wings. God those wings.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“What?”

“Are you hungry?”

I turned around and he was holding out a strawberry Poptart.

“I got them while you were asleep, there was a convenience store not too far from there.”

“Um, ya, thanks,” I said taking the Poptart from his hand.

I hadn’t realized how hungry I had been and shoved the Poptart into my mouth.

“So I was thinking if we just walk through the night we might be able to..” Cas began to say.

“Is he dead?” I interrupted.

“What?”

“Is he dead, is Azazel dead?” I started to raise my voice.

He stopped walking.

“I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know!”

“I mean I don’t know!”

“How could he survive that blast, there’s no way!”

“We were so high up Dean he may have missed it.”

“We only have three days and the only thing holding us back is him and you’re telling me after almost dying and going two more hours away from my door that he might still be alive?” I yelled. “I need to get to Heaven now, I need to feel the way I did when that light engulfed us, I need.”

“I need, I need, I need is that all you have to say,” he interrupted.

“After all I’ve been through I deserve to go to Heaven, I deserve,” I began to say, but was interrupted by a slap in the face.

I stared at him in disbelief holding my swollen cheek.

“You don’t deserve anything,” he yelled, “ you are getting a second chance because he loves you and he doesn’t leave any of his children behind. Now I suggest you stop acting like some spoiled brat and start walking; it’s time you realize the world doesn’t revolve around you Dean,” he said shoving me out of the way.

I turned around, ready to yell, but stopped. As he was walking his hands were together. He was praying. 

We walked in silence for the next hour. In that time we had passed through a small town, filled our bags, took a small detour down a couple dirt roads and finally made it back to our original path, but even so, we’re still two hours behind.

“Hey Cas,” I said breaking the silence, “ I, um.”

“Apology accepted,” he said.

“Now wait a sec, who said I was going to apologize!”

“No one said you were going to, but I know you were,” he said chuckling.

“Yeah, well still.”

“So how would you like to pass this lovely time we have together?” he said, putting his hands behind his head.

“What’s your story?” I asked.

He stopped walking.

“Why do you want to know?”

“You asked me how to pass the time, what better way to get to know you more than now,” I said, knowing I had finally got him.

“You really are annoying,” he said and started walking again.

“Hey, you asked. You don’t have to go and be all mean.”

“It was 1880, 129 years ago,” he interrupted. “I was a young five year old, but was pretty tall for my age. I went to school in a one room schoolhouse and worked on my family farm since I was three. We lived in a small, wooden cabin on the outskirts of a small town much like yours, but even smaller. My home life was perfect. I had my dad, a little brother and my mom. My mom was so beautiful. She had long, blonde, curly hair and perfect skin. She use to read to us every night before me and my brother went to bed, but although my home life was perfect, school was a whole different matter. I wasn’t the brightest kid in school and the other kids made sure I knew it. They would call me names and push me around when the teacher wasn’t looking. I did my best to do well in school, but I couldn’t keep up with the kids and each day the others pushed me around more and more. Everyday me and my father would bring the milk from our cows and the vegetables my mother picked into town and sell them at the local flea market which was always filled with the townspeople. That day in particular I saw this stand of beautiful yellow daisies, they were my mother’s favorite. I had been saving up my allowance and had just enough money to buy her a bouquet, and without telling my father I left the stand and went to buy some. I still remember how wonderful they smelled and how excited I was to give them to her. But on my way back I was stopped by the kids from school. They cornered me into an alley and one grabbed the flowers out of my hands. I yelled at them to give them back, but they just laughed, calling me names and kicking dirt at me. Then I did it. I hit the kid with the flowers right across the face. As I bent down to get the flowers, the others came over and kicked me down. All of them were kicking and hitting me. I yelled for help and told them to stop, but they just kept going and before I knew it I was walking through a dark tunnel toward a beam of light. I had been beaten to death. They found my body the next day.”

He kept walking as if it were nothing, as if his death was meaningless.

“Don’t you care anymore? Aren’t you still mad at them for what they did?”

“You know I could be if I really wanted to,” he said still walking, “ but if you think about it, if I was never killed that day, I wouldn’t be here helping you. God has a plan for me and I’ve learned to accept that. Plus, I don’t think any other angel could put up with your stubborn ass,” he said laughing and gave me a wink.

I stopped and stood in silence, just staring as he kept on walking and then I started laughing, a huge smile growing across my face. He was something. Always had a new perspective on things. I ran up to him and gave him a punch on the arm.

“Ouch! What was that for?” he said rubbing his arm.

“That’s for everything,” I said running away.

“Wait, what do you mean everything? Hey, wait up!” he said chasing after me.

“The world may never know,” I said still running, but stopped.

“Hey, I caught up with you,” he said panting. “Why did you stop?”

All I could do was point. Ahead of us, like out of a nightmare was Azazel. Torn and bloody, he slowly walked toward us. His jacket was completely torn to shreds and his undershirt nearly gone, but his face was the worse. Half of it was burnt to a crisp. It was red and torn, the skin shriveled into tiny wrinkles around his eyes and most of his hair was singed. He started walking toward us, slowly gaining speed.

“What do we do?” I said softly, but got no reply. “Cas, what do we do?”

He was sprinting now, his screaming chains dragging behind him. He wasn’t holding back this time. He was going to put everything he had in this one blow. Darkness spread through the air around him, screams reaching toward us. He had a new kind of strength. Cas was right, this wasn’t the Azazel we fought before.

“Is that from the contract?” I yelled.

Cas just stood there, as if he were waiting, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

“Can you hold all that back at once?”

“I’m going to try,” he said bracing himself.

“And now you die!” screeched Azazel.

All the darkness, the screams, the chaos, came flying toward us at once. All the light, the color around us, plunged into darkness. All I could see was the faint light of Cas’ shield, his feet sliding across the asphalt. The light dimmed smaller and smaller and then all at once exploded. The light grew higher and higher circling around Azazel. It was blinding, I couldn’t see anything. I could hear his screams, Azazel’s screams and then suddenly Cas tackled me to the floor, his body shielding me. The light grew brighter and the screams louder. Then it was silent, absolutely silent. 

“You okay?” Cas asked, his arms on either side of me.

His breathing was heavy and the look in his eyes were full of concern.

“Ya I’m fine,” I said leaning into his arm, surprising myself, “How did you do that?”

“That’s the thing, I didn’t do it.”

“You have created quite a mess, haven't you Cassy?” a voice said, “Now are you two going to lay there and ogle over each other or are you going to thank me?”

“Who’s there?” he said shading his eyes with his arm. 

I scurried out from beneath him. My cheeks red with embarrassment. What was happening?

“It’s Balthazar, you nimrod.”

“Lord have mercy,” said Cas standing up.

“You know Cassy you’re getting a little risky showing your true form don’t you think?”

“It’s Castiel you numbskull. How many times do I have to tell you, what are you doing here anyways?”

“There’s a reaper,” said Balthazar.

Cas paused for a moment and then stood up.

“So, it’s come to that, has it?” replied Cas.

“Can someone cue me in on what’s happening here?” I said chiming in.

Ahead of Me was a man. He was a good five inches taller than Cas and his face a little older, but other then that, they looked identical. Just like Cas, his hair was brown and skin porcelain and flawless. He wore a white, zip up hoodie with a gold t-shirt underneath and white skinny jeans.

“So, this is your soul Cassy,” said Balthazar walking toward me.

“That would be him.”

Balthazar squatted down and started poking me.

“Hey, quit it,”

“Feisty isn’t he?” he said walking back toward Cas.

“You have no idea.”

“Who are you anyways?” I asked.

“Dean, this is Balthazar, the Gatekeeper.”


	11. The Gate Keeper

We had been walking for about a half hour. Cas and Balthazar rambling about angel stuff and me scurrying behind. I was the third wheel in this relationship. 

“Hey, I’m still here you know.”

“Oh don’t worry little soul, I’ve been keeping an eye on you,” said Balthazar.

“I’m not little Gatekeeper...what the hell is a Gatekeeper anyways?”

“I’m the keeper of the gate,” he said sarcastically.

“No dip, sherlock.”

“A Gatekeeper is, well, I guess you could call him a security guard for the gates of Heaven,” said Cas. “In other words, although it pains me to say it, he is on a whole different level than me regarding power.”

“So why is a Gatekeeper here?”

“Because soul,” said Balthazar, “there is a Reaper here.”

“Wait, what’s a Reaper?” I said stopping.

“Come on now, don’t stop walking, we’re on a time schedule are we not?” said Balthazar turning around.

“What is a Reaper?” I said firmly.

“You are a feisty one aren’t you?”

“A Reaper, or a Grim Reaper, is the taker of souls. When a person dies and is to be brought to Hell, the reaper will wait until the soul leaves the body and then with it’s scythe, shred the soul and it will be sent to Hell,” chimed in Cas.

“If it just waits for souls damned to Hell, then why is he here to get us? I was suppose to go to Heaven.”

“Exactly, you were suppose to go to Heaven, but you blew that now didn’t you?” said Balthazar sarcastically.

“After roughing up the demons that were sent to take you, they sent in reinforcements and this time they aren’t messing around.”

“So what’s the plan then?”

“The plan is no different then before, we get to your door and we go home, Balthazar is here to take care of the rest.”

With a grin now on his face, Balthazar turned around and started walking again.

“Lets get moving boys,” he said.

We started walking, but since he was here, I thought I might as well take advantage of the situation.

“Hey GateKeeper, I mean Balthazar, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure kid, fire away.”

“Why is your soul, a soul, so important?”

“Your soul is where your, quote to quote, heart is. Not your beating heart, but the heart in which you use to love, believe, worship, etc. Now you have to remember, you worship from your soul, not your flesh, and worship is the best way to get closer to God. Now to do this, there are four key factors. First, you must have a sincere heart. You must remove distractions. Second, you must have a grateful heart. Tell God how great he is. Third is a humble heart. Remember you are unworthy to be in his presence, but what Jesus has done changes that. And finally, you must have a clean heart. Confess your sins. False worship separates us from God and true worship brings us closer to Him. Real worship is about God, not yourself. Your soul is who you really are; is where your true beauty is. If your body is what God really wanted, was who you truly were, than your body wouldn’t be here on earth if you died. That’s also why when you go to Heaven you are...”

“Reborn,” I interrupted.

“Exactly. Any other questions?”

“Ya actually. How?” I began to say.

“Didn’t think so,” he interrupted.

Cas stared back at me with an apologetic look and I reassured him it was fine. We walked another half hour. Cas and Balthazar still talking and Me still straggling behind, but it didn’t bother me much anymore. I knew my time here on earth was limited and for the first time I finally realized just how beautiful and amazing it really was. To think that the trees around us started off no bigger than a quarter and now tower over us, and that yesterday’s rain was the same rain from million of years ago. I’d never realized how many different smells there were. From the flowers to the wind and how many different sounds like the birds and the breeze through the trees. The fact that we are only a tiny speck compared to how big the universe really is and that God created it.  When I was alive I was so concerned with myself and what I was doing at that moment, that I never stopped and soaked up how crazy it was to be alive right now. I stared up at the sky and was obviously not paying attention to where I was going because no more than thirty seconds later I ran into Cas.

“Ow,” I said rubbing my nose.

“Shh, quiet down,” said Cas.

The road we had taken had lead into a small ravine. To our left was a 50 foot wall of jagged stone and to our right was the guard railing and a 100 foot drop to the bottom of the ravine. In front of me were Balthazar and Cas. They stood perfectly still. 

“Let’s start the party shall we?” said Balthazar, breaking the silence.

I looked over at him only to find a long, silver, sword emerging from his palm. The handle was gold with a silver ribbon wrapped around it. The ribbon formed into the blade itself at the end of the hilt. It was flawless. He signaled Cas to back up and he did. He grabbed me by the arm and signaled me again to be quiet. Balthazar started walking forward swinging his sword around effortlessly and stabbed it into the asphalt, where a tiny pool of blood began to form.

“Getting a little sloppy Alastair, don’t you think?” asked Balthazar.

Dark fog began to rapidly pour out from the pool of blood and the outline of a figure began to form from it.

“Sloppy, I think not,” said the figure of fog, “uncaring would be a better term.”

A cold wind blew from behind us and the figure turned into a man. He looked to be the same height as Balthazar, but about ten years older. His hair was short and grey. He had no iris or pupil, just two black holes for eyes and black thread like veins around them. He was wearing black jeans and t-shirt and a long black trench coat. His nails were long and sharp and he had a scar across his right eye and a scythe across the back of his shoulders, his hands resting on top, holding it in place.

“Thanks to those pathetic excuses of demons, I have to be here to get that,” he said pointing toward me.

“You seem so thrilled,” said Balthazar ripping his sword from the ground.

“This is simply a bump in my schedule, Gatekeeper, and I have neither the time nor patience to follow you three around when I can just take what I want now and get back to what’s really important.”

“And what’s that?”

“Eternal damnation,” he said.

He spun the scythe off his shoulders and into his hand. Cas took off in the opposite direction pulling me with him, but we made it no more than thirty feet before we were stopped.

“Don’t be stupid, angel,” said the Reaper.

He reached toward us and one of his pointed nails touched my chest as I jumped back.

“You’re forgetting about me,” yelled Balthazar, thrusting his sword.

“You are a pest,” said the reaper who was now behind us again,“ fortunately for me I won’t be here much longer,” he said grinning.

I turned back around to see him staring at me. A heavy pain started to grow in my chest and I grimaced. His grin grew bigger and I looked down. A long black chain was coming out of my chest, the other end connected to the Reaper’s palm.

“Cas!” yelled Balthazar.

The chain began to retreat back into the Reaper’s palm and I was thrusted forward. Cas raced after me. I reached my hand out being dragged across the ground. 

“Not so fast angel,” said the Reaper swiping his other hand in front of him.

In return Cas was thrown by an invisible force over the guardrail. I yelled for Cas, but was pulled harder until my chest met with his palm. He spun me around and proceeded to raise his scythe.

“I expected more Gatekeeper,” he chuckled.

He brought the scythe down toward me, but it was stopped before it could touch my skin. Again he brought down his scythe and again it was stopped. It was the feather.

He stared at it for a moment. His face a mix of rage and disbelief, then turned toward Balthazar.

“There are other ways to destroy a soul,” he said, “ and I plan on testing each thoroughly.”

I could see Balthazar’s arm coming toward me, I reached out for him and then everything went black.


	12. Cas

I jumped back to the road, my eyes and tattoos glowing, as Balthazar stumbled forward, his arm still reaching out. I looked around and stopped glowing, realizing the fight was over.

“So he’s gone, you beat him up pretty good didn’t ya,” I laughed, “wish I could have got in on some of that action.”

“Cas.”

“So where’s Dean, hidden somewhere?”

“Cas.”

“He’s probably freaking out now, Dean get out here he’s gone ya big baby!”

“Castiel!”

“What?”

Balthazar turned around, who was staring the other way, and looked at me.

“He’s gone,” said Balthazar in a calm voice.

I laughed hesitantly.

“What?”

“He’s gone,” he said again, as if nothing was wrong.

I looked at him with a serious look. He met my look with a shoulder shrug.

“He’s gone,” I said in disbelief, “ he’s really gone.”

“Yup.”

I started to speak, but the fury in me left me speechless.

“This is your fault, you had one job, to protect him from the Reaper, and now he’s gone?” I finally said walking toward Him.

“Technically he’s not really gone; he’s still here on earth,” replied Balthazar.

“He could be taken to Hell at any moment!”

“Not with that feather on him, he’s probably just being tortured or slowly getting the life sucked out of him. It’s nothing to worry about Cassy.”

“Nothing to worry about, do you even hear what you’re saying? He could be being tortured right now! I know he’s not some all mighty Gatekeeper like you, but he is my responsibility and whether you’re coming or not I’m going to find him and bring him to that door!” I yelled walking away.

“You don’t even know where to look. There’s like a one in a million chance of finding him.”

“Well there’s still that one out of the million and I’m willing to take that chance,” I said stopping to turn around at him. “Now are you coming or not?”

He stared at me with undecided eyes and then sighed.

“Well I don’t think you’re really leaving me with much choice,” he said walking toward me, “where do you suppose we start looking?”

“In the dark.”


	13. Darkness

I woke up in what seemed like an old warehouse. The room was dim and musty. The only source of sunlight came from a few broken windows with tarps hanging from them. The floors were covered in a mix of dirt and dust which blew through the room from the occasional gust of wind. Above me was a maze of intertwining pipes and tubes and below that was a metal staircase leading to the second level of the abandoned warehouse. I was tied to a metal rod in the middle of the room, my hands wrapped together with a rusty chain which tore at my skin, and the dark chain pulled down from my chest. Dust coated the inside of my lungs and flies flew above me. I immediately began to panic; frantically pushing and pulling, trying to release my wrists from the binding chain and they began to bleed.  
“Good morning sunshine.”  
The Reaper appeared in front of me, his face was close enough for me to feel his breath brushing against my face.  
“You still look a little sleepy let me help you with that,” he said and then punched me in the jaw.  
His punch was like stone, the pain shooting from my face and echoing to the rest of my body. Blood dripped from my lip as I looked toward the floor.   
“You have made my job quite difficult, but don’t worry we can fix that.”  
I didn’t look up, I couldn’t.  
“Look at me when I’m talking to you you insignificant worm!” he screeched.  
He squatted down and grabbed my chin forcing me to look at him.  
“Listen pest, you have caused enough trouble for me, you’re like a tiny gnat buzzing at my ears and I will not tolerate any rebellion from what little hope you have,” he said. He began dragging his nails across my face digging them into my skin as I let out a tiny cry, “ I will drain every drop of that hope from your beaten body and watch what little life you have fade from your eyes understand?”  
Without thinking I spit in his face and immediately regretted it.  
“Bad decision,” he said.  
He stood up and removed his trench coat. His arms were covered with burned markings. He leaned in close.  
“I might not be able to reap you, but mark my words, you will burn in Hell if it’s the last thing I do,” he whispered and then grabbed my face.  
His fingers spread across my face digging into my flesh. A black mist oozed from his fingertips and then the pain set in. It was as if my whole body was on fire. My heart felt as if it were being torn to pieces and my lungs being crushed. Tears filled my eyes and all I could see was his sinister smile, all I could hear was his piercing laughter. All I could do was scream and screaming is all I did.


	14. Searching

Another half hour had passed and we hadn’t made any progress in finding Dean. All I could think about was how much pain he must be in, how I failed at what I came here to do. What if I couldn’t get him to his door? With what little time we had left that thought was becoming a reality. 

“So where are we going?” asked Balthazar.

As far as I knew we had two choices. We could go to Norman as planned or go to the next closest place, Lawton a city one and half hours south west from where we were, a trip that would take the rest of the day.  I looked ahead and then to my left and then to Balthazar.

“He’s your soul Cas.”

“I realize that.”

“You have a connection, he has your feather.”

The feather! That’s right he has my feather! I had completely forgotten.  I closed my eyes and intertwined my hands. I can do this, it’s my feather, find the feather. I tried, but I felt nothing. I opened my eyes and looked at James.

“So did you find him?”

“No I,” I began to say, but then I heard it.

It was a piercing scream. It was loud as if it were right next to me and it was coming from Lawton; it was Dean. I whipped my head toward the West starring as though I saw a ghost.

“What is it? What’s the matter?” asked Balthazar.

“Wait, you didn’t hear it?”

“Hear what?”

It was true me and Dean really did have a connection and that connection was about to save his life.

“He’s that way,” I pointed.

“You sure?”

“Positive.”


	15. Hope

 

The floor around me was covered in blood. My blood. The sun was setting and what little light that was leaking through the windows was fading. As far as I knew I was alone. I had been for a couple hours, but who knows for how much longer? I was beaten, bruised, tired and weak. All I could smell was blood, all I could see was a blur, and all I could hear was my hoarse breathing. The reaper was right, all my hope had been taken away from me with every punch, and my soul broken down, torn from my body. I waited for God to help, to give me a sign, but I got nothing, I was truly alone. How much longer did I have? How much of my soul had been taken? Black shadows bounced off the walls and floor. Nothing but black. I raised my head expecting nothing, but in front of me was a white blur. I squinted trying to make out the blur. Slowly, but surely my vision began to focus and that tiny white blur became clear. It was a dove. I just stared at it as if it were just a figment of my imagination. Why was there a dove here? How was there a dove here? It began hopping toward me, closer and closer until it was at my feet in the pool of blood. It then preceded to fly onto my lap, but although he had been standing in the blood, his feet, nor his white body, had any trace of it. He looked up at me cocking his head from side to side. 

“Hey little guy, trust me you don’t want to be here it’s...” I began to say, but stopped.

I stared in disbelief, on the chest of the dove was a black marking, a cross. Was this my sign? Was he really listening? He hopped closer to me and stepped on the blood from my leg, but it didn’t leave behind a footprint. Instead it left a cross. 

“You’re here,” I whispered, a tear started rolling down my face. 

Without thinking I went to reach for the dove, but instead of pulling me back, the chains around my hands fell to the floor. One of the the rings had rusted through and broken. Just as I reached the dove he flew away. He flew toward a beam of light toward the right side of the building. It was a door, an exit. I stood and rubbed my wrists. This was it. I was finally free. I looked down at the black chain coming out of my chest. I pulled my necklace off and with one quick swipe of the feather I sliced through the chain and it fell to the floor. It was as if all my troubles, all my pain, had fallen with the chain. I started running toward the door. I didn’t look back as I burst out into the sunlit city. I didn’t know where I was or where I was going, but I didn’t care! I was free and I didn’t plan on giving that up. I bolted down the nearest alley, jumping over and dodging trash and rubble. The alley opened up into a four way intersection. Cars flew past me as I ran down the crowded sidewalk. It was like a whole new world. One second I was isolated and alone and the next I’m in the middle of hundreds of people. I ran as fast as I could not looking where I was going and before I knew it I ran into a someone, but they didn’t hit me, they passed through me. I stopped running and one by one they passed through me and at that moment I finally realized although there were hundreds of people here I was still alone and I was afraid. Everything around me seemed to silence and I closed my eyes. Maybe if I couldn’t see them I wouldn’t feel so alone-then I heard it. A roaring scream pierced through the air sending a chill throughout my body. The reaper. My eyes shot open in horror and I frantically started running through the thick crowd of people. I had to get out of here. I had to find somewhere safe. I found another alley and sprinted as fast as I could. It opened up into a run down suburb. The only people in sight were a couple of teenagers, a boy and a girl, walking down the street. There was no time to run around them, the street was too small and although I hated it, I was going to just have to run through them. I picked up speed and raced forward. As I got close, I closed my eyes, but instead of running through them I found myself on the ground. I had hit them.

“Hey, watch where you’re going will ya?!” yelled the girl.

I looked up in amazement. They could see me just like Nash could.

“Didn’t you hear me? I said watch where you’re going!” she yelled again.

“Oh, um, ya sorry I didn’t think I would hit you,” I stuttered.

“What do you mean you didn’t think you would hit us, you were running straight at us!”

“I didn’t know you were...” I began to say, but was interrupted by a hand.

“Don’t worry about it bro, lets just call it a misunderstanding shall we?” said the boy, his hand reaching down toward me.

I grabbed his hand and he pulled me up. I began brushing myself off when the girl suddenly appeared in front of me.

“This is an angel’s feather,” she said examining my necklace, “So where’s your angel?”

“I’m not sure,” I said pulling away from her.

“What do you mean you’re not sure?”

“I mean I’m not sure,” I said again.

“Well that doesn’t make much sense to...” she began to say, but stopped.

“To what?” I asked, but then realized why she stopped.

She was staring at my chest. There was a hole in my shirt where the black chain use to hang. The skin around it was covered in black veins and dried blood.

“Reaper,” she said, her face now completely serious, “Adam we have to go.”

“Wait, what, Reaper, Anna we can’t just leave him here.”

“He has a Reaper chasing after him Adam, he isn’t safe, I might be an angel, but I’m no match for a reaper.”

So she was an angel too. That must mean he’s her soul.

“Well that gives us even more reason to take him with us, I’m not going to let another innocent person die because of me,” he said.

Let another person die because of him, I wonder what he meant by that?

“Adam honestly.”

“He’s coming with us.”

They stared at each other for what seemed like minutes and then she finally replied.

“Fine, he can come, but that means we are stopping for the night,” she said, an irritated tone in her voice, “we’re going to sleep in that cathedral down the street, I’m not taking any chances with a Reaper around,” she said and started walking away.

“Well I guess I’m coming with you then,” I said,“ thanks.”

“No problem, and don’t worry about Faith, she might seem rough now, but she’s a real sweetheart once you get to know her.”

“Come on boys lets go!”

We both looked at each other and then started jogging toward Anna.  Another roar rang through the air and I looked around panicked, but I seemed to be the only one who heard it.

“You okay?” asked Adam.

“Ya, I’m good,” I replied.

“By the way I never got your name.”

“It’s Dean, my name’s Dean.”


	16. Think

 

We made it to the cathedral which seemed to be off Adam and Anna’s path yet Adam didn’t seem to mind, although I couldn’t say the same for Anna. The cathedral was big, bigger than the one Cas and I stayed in. The ceiling was high and rounded at the top covered with paintings of angels. To the left and right of me were walls of stain, glass windows made of a variety of colors creating a mosaic rainbow. The floor was lined with pews which led to a small lifted stage covered in candles. It felt safe and at this point safe was a privileged feeling. I looked at Adam who was picking out a pew to lay on. He was so much different than Nash, much more humble and considerate. I wonder how a kid like that could have ended up being like me, dead. I watched as he laid down on a pew like he had done this a million times.

“They might not be the most comfortable things in the world, but it’s better than the floor,” said Adam sitting up, “Take your pick,” he said motioning toward the pews.

I looked around the room then started walking down the aisle. I dragged my hand across the pews as I walked and then stopped. The pew was long and I traced my hand on the wood trim.

“I guess you’ll have to do,” I said then laid down and tried to get comfortable.

Adam smiled and laid back down.

“I don’t know what you’re smiling about when there’s a reaper out there,” says Anna laying at the end of Adam’s pew.

“Don’t worry so much Anna, you’ll get frown lines,” replied Adam giving her a grin.

“Go to bed,” she said closing her eyes. “Idiot,” she said and gave a small smirk.

Who knew I’d meet so many people on this crazy adventure? I guess I’m not as alone as I thought I was. I closed my eyes, smiled and finally fell asleep.


	17. Their Problems

 

It was cold and dark. The cool wind nipped at my nose as I looked around. Where am I? What happened to the cathedral?

“Adam, Adam are you there?”

My voice echoed and I tried to adjust my eyes to the darkness.

“Anna, Adam, you guys there?”

My eyes slowly began to focus and I finally realized where I was. The warehouse. 

“No, no, this isn’t happening,” I whispered.

“Dean,” a voice said behind me.

I spun around and there, tied to the poll was Cas. He was covered with golden blood and surrounded by fallen feathers.

“Cas!” I yelled running toward him, “ Cas what happened to you?” I said cradling his face between my hands.

“It was the Reaper. He killed Balthazar, I tried to hold him back so you could get away, but I didn’t stand a chance, Dean why are you here? You need to get out of here,” he muttered.

“I’m not going to leave you!” I said leaning my forehead into his.

“Dean go! Go find your door get out of here before it’s too...” he started to say and then let out a painful scream.

A long blade stuck out from his chest, it was a scythe. I looked up and came face to face with that ugly, sinister smile.

“Welcome back, soul,”  murmured the reaper pulling the scythe back.

“Cas!” I yelled opening my eyes.

It was just a dream, no a nightmare. I sat up trying to catch my breath. I was in a pew at the cathedral. Adam was in the pew next to me, and Anna was laying on the windowsill above us; must be an angel thing. The sun was just peaking over the horizon. The beams of light cast a flood of colors across the floor from the glass windows which gave the room an angelic atmosphere. I stood up to stretch and wandered to the front of the cathedral. I stumbled a bit at first. My body ached from the night before and was protesting against me walking. As I walked to the front I caught a glimpse of myself in the window. I hadn’t realized how bad I really looked. My hair was matted down. I had a black eye and my lip was swollen. My face was covered in cuts and scrapes and my arms splattered with dark, black and blue bruises. The sight of my reflection made me sick to my stomach. I turned away and kept walking, trying my best to forget what I’d seen. Ahead of me was a large, wooden podium with a detailed cross carved in the front. To the right was a holy water font and to the left was a small communion table. On the podium lay an open Bible and like always my curiosity got the best of me. The Bible was old and worn. The pages were yellowed and the spine pulled from them. It had obviously gotten a lot of use. A thin black ribbon lay in the book’s crevasse marking the page in which the reader had left off. I traced my fingers over the page and began to read.

“Mark 11:25, “ _And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your sins._ "

“What are you doing?” asked Anna.

Startled, I dropped the Bible onto the floor.

“I, I was just stretching,” I stuttered, reaching for the Bible.

“I see, well you can stretch your way toward the door, we’re leaving.”

She started walking toward the door, Adam was waiting for her there. I set the Bible back on the podium and followed her toward the door. This was day six; I only had one day left. This was it. We stepped outside and Anna signaled us to follow her. Outside the air was cool. Dew coated the grass and the rising sun cast shadows onto the towering buildings. I’d never been to Lawton before and from what I’d been through, it had given me a terrible first impression, but looking now the city wasn’t actually that bad. Buildings of all shapes and sizes bordered the streets. Coffee shops and dinners were scattered throughout the buildings and coated in bright colored signs and logos. Green vines crawled up the walls of a brick apartment building to my right and to my left a spiral staircase lead to a small balcony. It must have been early because the streets were barren except for the occasional businessman. 

“Anybody up for some breakfast?” asked Adam.

I nodded in agreement.

“Anna?” asked Adam.

She just stared at him.

“Then it’s settled, I know this great coffee shop we can go to. Lets go.”

The coffee shop was small. The two front walls were windows and lined with booths. I walked up to the counter and grabbed a blueberry bagel, then slid into one of the booths. John slid into the bench across from me and Anna went behind the counter to get some coffee.

“So how did you know about this place?” I asked between bites of bagel.

“I live here, I mean, I guess I use to live here,” replied Adam. “And died here.”

I put my bagel down and looked up.

“So your door is here then,” I said, “where?”

“The General Hospital.”

“Forgive me for asking, but how did it happen?”

“I don’t really like to talk about it.”

“Sorry I didn’t mean to pry,” I apologized. 

Adam looked down, silent, before meeting my eyes with his.

“Actually, I need to get this off my chest and what better time then just before I find my door, right?”

“You don’t have to tell me,” I said.

“No, it’s fine really, you ready?” he asked.

I nodded in response.

“It was on a Friday night. Me and a few friends were coming home from a camping trip a couple hours from here and decided to have a couple drinks. I was only going to have one or two, but I got wrapped up in the moment and kept drinking and drinking. By the time it was time to leave I was way beyond the legal limit, but I still got in my car and started driving. I made it no more than five minutes down the street when I ran through a red light and blindsided a car. I wasn’t wearing my seatbelt and was ejected through the windshield. The paramedics managed to keep me alive until I got to the hospital here, but I didn’t stand a chance. The other car had rolled four times. I heard that it was a younger guy and that he died on impact. That’s why I passed up my first chance, I didn’t think God would forgive my sin, but he did.”

I stared at him in horror. He said he was drunk. That the car he hit rolled four times. That the person was a teenager that died on impact.

“Where did that happen?”

“Excuse me?”

“Where was the accident!”

“Norman, it happened in Norman; Why what’s the matter?”

All I could do was stare. This was the man who killed me. The one that took everything from me.

“Dean what’s the matter?” he said reaching for my hand.

“Don’t touch me!” I yelled standing up out of the booth.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“I was that Man, I died on impact, my car rolled four times, I died in Masonville, you killed me,” I breathed.

“I what?” he asked shakily.

“You killed me!” I screamed.

“What’s going on over here?” asked Anna, now holding a coffee in her hand.

“Stay away from me!” I screeched and ran toward the door.

“Dean wait!” yelled Adam.

I didn’t wait, I didn’t turn around, I just ran. I ran as fast as I could until I couldn’t run anymore. I ducked into the nearest alley and collapsed onto the dirt stricken floor. He killed me. Adam killed me. My stomach felt sick just from the thought of it. This was a new kind of pain. Not physical, emotional. I grabbed at my chest even though I knew it wouldn’t help and then out of nowhere an icy chill shot through me. 

“You’re in pain,” a voice said echoing off the walls. “You know I should really thank John, without him it would have taken me much longer to find you. That God of yours, although I hate to admit it, always has a plan. You do realize he wanted you to meet Adam right?” said the voice laughing. “It was simple, just wait for the plan to unfold then soak up the pain that oozes from that weak little heart of yours.”

I stood up and my eyes darted back and forth trying to find the voice’s source.

“Your pain is like a beacon of light for me,Dean,” the voice said again.

Suddenly the source of the voice appeared in front of me.

“And you know how much I love pain,” whispered the reaper.


	18. Early Morning

It was early, the sun just beginning to rise. I knew that we might have the fight of our lives today and the fact that I didn’t sleep at all last night didn’t help the nerves. We finally made it to Lawton city and in record time may I add. Now that we were here the new challenge was to find Dean. Balthazar, having more experience with reapers, suggested we search old warehouses and abandon houses since reapers like to stay in places that felt most like home, the dark. With that knowledge we narrowed out our options and ended up at the front door of an old, abandoned warehouse, the perfect hiding place. The door was hanging on by a hinge and was rusted through and most of the windows were covered in ripped pieces of plastic. 

“After you,” said Balthazar.

I took a deep breath and pushed open the door. The door moaned and swung open and to my disappointment the room was empty. I scanned the room. A dark stain caught my eye. It was in the middle of the room and next to it was a pile of black chain. I began to panic and sprinted toward it. The stain was blood.

“No, no, no,” I yelled grabbing hold of the chain, “we’re too late!”

“Cas.”

“He’s gone!” I screamed falling to my knees.

“Cas.”

“He’s suffering and I can’t do anything!”

“Castiel!” yelled Balthazar.

“What!” I yelled back.

He replied back with a slap. The noise of his hand hitting my face echoed through the room and I went silent, grabbing my face.

“Get ahold of yourself! You have every right to hurt right now, but the fact is the Reaper is still out there and as long as he is free from Hell he will keep searching for more souls. He is our problem and we need to use all our energy to stop him. Now is not the time to have a mental break down!”

He was right; he was always right. I looked down to the blood stricken floor, but something caught my attention. A nearly inaudible scream swarmed my ears. It couldn’t be could it?

“Get your head in the game Cassy, the reaper is powerful, we have no time to waste,” he said. “ Are you listening to me?” 

I stood up and started walking toward an open door at the right side of the building. Another scream clawed at my ears, this time a little louder. There was no mistaking it, it was him, it was Dean.

“He’s alive,” I breathed.

“What are you talking about?” said Balthazar, but it was too late, I was already sprinting out the door.

“Cas wait what are you doing!” yelled Balthzar running after me.

I ran as fast as I could trying to find the source of the screams. I raced into the crowd of people not taking the time to swerve around them. I ran as fast as I could. I didn’t know where I was going and I didn’t care I just had to find him, to find him and get him to his door. Before I knew it the streets were empty, the buildings old and the air cold. I stopped and waited for another scream.

“Cas, what are you doing?!” yelled Balthazar spinning me around.

“Dean’s alive, didn’t you hear the screams?”

“What, what screams?” he panted.

“You mean you didn’t hear them?”

“No, not a thing! Maybe it’s in your...” he began to say, but was interrupted.

“Don’t touch me!” Rang the scream.

We both looked at each other and then started running toward the scream. _We’re_ _coming Dean just hold on a little longer, this time the Reaper won’t be so lucky._

We kept running until there was nowhere else to run. We were at the edge of the city. The screams seemed to echo off the buildings as though they came from every direction. I ran to the right, but then heard a scream from the left. I stopped and spun around frantically. Which way is it? Which way are you Dean? I’ve never been so panicked in my life. I’m suppose to be the cool guy, the calm, collected, guardian angel, not a nervous wreck. Suddenly a hand was on my shoulder.

“Castiel,” said Balthazar in a monotone voice, “do you see that?” he said pointing to the top of a building.

The building was made of dark bricks and pointed at the top. On the point was a dark object. Balthazar’s eyes suddenly started to glow as he focused in on the object.

“Focus your eyes, you won’t believe this.”

I focused my eyes, and as they began to glow my eyes zoomed in on to the object as though I was looking through binoculars. I realized the object wasn’t an object at all, but was a person, the Reaper. There he was perched at the tip of the building like a raven looking for his prey. 

“If he’s there then you know what that means,” said Balthazar.

“Dean got away.”

“We are better off killing him then finding Dean.”

I didn’t want to leave Dean alone much longer, but I knew he was right.

“Okay lets do this quick.”

Just as I was about to unfocus my eyes, I noticed something. The Reaper began to smirk and then disappeared.

“Where did he go?!” I yelled unfocusing my eyes and looking at Balthazar.

“He found him, we need to go now.”

“You don’t think I know that. Where do you suppose we go?”

“Cas!”

The scream pierced my ears. This time it didn’t bounce off the buildings, no echos, no questions, I knew exactly where he was. I took off running knowing exactly where to go. 

“Here we go again!” yelled Balthazar chasing after me.


	19. Reunion

“Cas!” I yelled.

“Your angel isn’t here boy,” hissed the Reaper grabbing my neck and pushing me into the wall. “Now shall we make this painful or extremely painful?”

I looked him in the eye and spit in his face.

“Extremely painful it is.”

Without thinking I grabbed the feather around my neck and slashed toward the Reaper’s arms. He screamed in pain as I sliced his wrist releasing his hold around my neck and I ran.

“The chase only makes this more fun for me boy,” yelled the Reaper disappearing in a cloud of fog.

I ran as fast as I could. The buildings around me were now old and rundown. The street was deserted.

“Where do you think you are running to soul?”

“Leave me alone!” I yelled stopping in the middle of an old intersection.

“Now what would be the fun in that?” echoed the voice.

I ripped the feather off my neck and looked around, ready to fight and then he appeared in front of me. He grabbed me by the neck and lifted me into the air and the feather fell to the ground.

“You are such an annoyance to me. All you do is yell and run! You must understand, I’ve never wanted to damn a soul this bad, you have brought this upon yourself,” he said tightening his grip.

I grabbed at his hand trying to pull free, but his grip was too strong, all I could do was gasp for air.

“You tried to resist and look where that has gotten you, dangling here helpless with no protection. You removed the only thing stopping me from reaping you. I really should thank you, but you’re not quite significant enough for that are you?” he said grabbing his scythe and spinning it around, “your little adventure is over now soul. Burn,” he yelled raising his scythe.

I braced myself for pain, but instead of pain I fell to the ground. The Reaper rolled away from me, Cas on top of him.

“You little bastard,” yelled the Reaper throwing Cas away from him.

Cas rolled away, but stood up just as quick and shot off a barrage of needles. The Reaper countered with a wall of black fog created by the wave of his hand.

“You’re a hard man to find,” said Balthazar putting a hand on my shoulder.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I am so glad to see you,” I said standing up.

“Balthazar a little help here!” yelled Cas, dodging a black chain.

“Run to the building over there,” he said pointing toward a vacant convenience store.

I nodded and bolted toward the store as a chain flew over top of my head. I ducked thinking that it missed me, but was surprised when it boomeranged back and wrapped around my waist. 

“Not so fast soul,” hissed the Reaper.

The chain whipped me back toward the Reaper and then up off the ground, the air leaving my lungs. Suddenly the chain disintegrated and I plummeted to the ground, but just as fast I was in Balthazar’s arms.

“I thought I told you to run!”

“What do you think I was doing?”

In a flash of light we jumped. We teleported to the outside of the building and he set me down.

“Stay here understand?”

I nodded in response, then he jumped back to help Cas. I scurried to the window. Outside was an all out battle field. Dark smoke swarmed around the Reaper and bright, flashes of light shot from Balthazar and Cas. Needles shot from Cas’ hands, but the Reaper dodged with ease. Balthazar then came from behind with his sword and was countered by the black chains.

“You think you can hide him from me?” yelled the Reaper.

He swung the chains violently around and around, the air filling with screams.

“I can feel your fear little soul,” he whispered looking right at me.

All I could do was stare; it was as if my feet couldn’t move, his black eyes shooting right through me as though it were death itself. Cas bolted towards the building, but the Reaper expected this. He threw his chains toward him grabbing him by the foot. Cas fell to the ground as he was drug toward the Reaper.

“And you will die with him,” he said grabbing Cas by the neck.

Without thinking I ran toward the door and outside the building. I couldn’t let him kill Cas, this had to stop.

“Wait,” I yelled.

The screams stopped and everything went silent. 

“What are you doing,” choked Cas.

The Reaper’s grip tightened. I started walking forward. What was I thinking? That’s just it, I wasn’t thinking. I just had to save Cas. I kept walking. Step by step I got closer to him, closer to my own death. When I noticed it, my necklace, just behind the Reaper. This was my chance, I didn’t have to die. I could end it all right here. I kept moving forward, trying not to look at the feather.

“That’s right, come to me soul.”

Five more steps. Balthazar shot forward.

“Ah, ah, ah, one more step Gatekeeper and the angel dies,” he hissed tightening the chain around Cas’ neck.

Balthazar stopped. Four more steps, three, two, until I was only a step away from him. He reached out toward me, his finger inches from my forehead...when out of nowhere comes Anna. Without warning she cut through the Reaper’s arm and it fell to the ground. The Reaper screamed in pain, dropping Cas. This was my chance! I dove past the Reaper and grabbed the necklace, he swung around to grab me and I shoved it through his chest. Veins of light began to crack from the wound as he staggered back. Finally, it was over-or so I thought. Without warning he began to run toward me. I turned to run, but tripped and fell to the ground. 

“Die you son of a---”

This time it was Balthazar, and the Reaper took a sword to the neck, straight through the neck to be exact. His head fell to the ground and his body slowly started to disintegrate, his scythe dropping. I sat frozen in place, stunned by what just happened. James stepped forward and kicked over the remaining parts of the Reaper’s body and it turned to ash. He picked up the scythe.  Everyone was silent. I looked at Balthazar then at Cas, then started laughing. I leaned back and fell to the ground lying on my back still laughing. Cas looked at me and a grin started to spread across his face. Finally he started laughing and then Balthazar joined in. I’ve never laughed out of relief before, but thinking back on what just happened, I kind of liked it. Finally I stopped laughing and sat up. Balthazar stopped laughing and was strapping the scythe to his back.

“What are you going to do with that?” I said finally standing up.

“Bring it back to Heaven, rid the evil of it and add it to my collection,” said Balthazar, “long time no see Anna, thanks for the help,” he said winking at her.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she replied signaling Adam to come out.

He scurried out from behind an old building and joined us, not making eye contact with me.

“How did you know we were here anyway?” asked Cas.

“Well you weren’t being very nonchalant about the whole mess I could sense you all the way from across town, Adam insisted that we help so here we are.”

I stared at Adam not knowing how to feel. He had killed me, but it was an accident, but, he had killed me, but he came back to save me, but he had killed me. Then I remembered “Mark 11:25, “ _And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your sins._ " I took a deep breath and hurriedly walked over to him. He looked up as I stood in front of him and then I threw a punch. He fell to the ground, grabbing his face, not saying a word. I just looked at the ground.

“I forgive you.”

He looked at me tears forming in his eyes.

“Now get up and go find your door. Tell Anna to jump it will be faster. Go get out of here!” I started to yell.

Anna walked over to Adam and helped him up.

“Come on Adam, lets go.”

He stared at me for a moment and they jumped, but just before they left I could faintly make out a nearly silent thank you. The air was awkward. No one spoke. Cas stared at me and I knew what he was doing. He was reading me. He knew exactly what was going on and walked toward me. The last thing I wanted was a hug or some sentimental speech, especially in front of Balthazar. I looked up and a hand was in front of me, it was in the shape of a fist. I smiled and bumped it. Both of us started laughing and Balthazar just stood there in confusion.

“So I suppose you’re leaving now?” said Cas walking toward Balthazar.

“My job here is done, and with Azazel dead and the Reaper gone you should have smooth sailing from here,” said Balthazar lifting his sword.

He strapped the scythe to his back and pointed his sword forward. He then preceded to turn the sword like a key as if he were unlocking something. All of a sudden a golden door appeared. The door was solid gold with a sword, much like Balthazar’s, hanging on the front. It was a door to Heaven.

“Thanks for the help,” said Cas shaking Balthazar’s hand.

“Saving your ass is a part of my daily life,” he said.

He started going through the door.

“Wait Balthazar!” I yelled, “Thank you!”

He waved as he went through the door.

“See you around Dean.”

There was a bright flash of light and then suddenly the door was gone. I sat there and stared. It was all over, all the trouble we went through was finally done and we could now continue our journey in peace. A feeling of relief rushed through my body.

“So, you just gonna stand there or are we gonna go?” asked Cas grabbing my hand.

“Ya, but you don’t need to hold my hand the whole way there I can walk myself,” I replied, blushing in surprise.

“Who said we were walking?” Michael said with a grin on his face.

“Don’t you dare!”

And then we jumped.


	20. Endings

We ended up jumping back a little ways past our original position, only a couple hours out from Norman, but the clock was ticking. It was already our seventh day. The day consisted mostly of running, but unlike Cas my human body wore out fast and we had to take several breaks along the way. We found ourselves at a small church about an hour out from Norman and the sun was already setting.

“This is hopeless! We are never going to make it in time,” I said panting on the church floor.

“Don’t say that! Now get up and lets keep moving,” said Cas, walking toward the door.

“I can’t walk anymore Cas, my blisters have blisters.”

“Do you want to go to Heaven or not?”

“Well I..”

“Then get up!!”

Suddenly a gust of wind shot through the church. All the shades on the windows flew open and the papers on the pews scattered about the room and there in front of me was a white dove, a white dove with a cross on its chest.

“You again,” I whispered.

“You’ve met?”

“When the reaper had me in chains he helped me escape, he’s God isn’t he?”

“You could say that, you could also say that this is our little miracle.”

“What do you mean?” I said staring at the bird.

It stared back cocking its head at me.

“This is a sign from God, Dean. This little guy is going to take us to your door.”

“What? How?”

“He’s gonna jump us.”

“To my door?”

“Yup, you’ve come along way Dean, he’s seen that,” he said walking toward the bird.

“You ready to go?”

This was it. I was finally going to make it to my door. I dropped to my knees and closed my eyes.

“I don’t know how to go about doing this, but I’m going to do my best. I just wanted to thank you for everything, just thank you, I’m ready to come home.” 

I opened my eyes and Cas’ hand was in front of me, I grabbed it and stood.

“Lets go.”

We both touched the bird and light filled the room. Before I knew it I was on the pavement, back to the ground and eyes to the sky. The sky was a bright orange and as I watched I could see the dove fly toward the setting sun. As I sat up I began to recognize my surroundings. I stood, a panic beginning to take over, flashes from the accident started running through my mind and my hands began to shake and then I turned around. And there it was. The panic in me suddenly subsided and was replaced with pure relief. I finally made it. The door wasn’t anything fancy. It didn’t have engravings or a colorful border. It was worn down oak and the handle was a dark gold with tiny chip marks in it, but that didn’t matter. This was my door. After seven long days we finally made it and just in time.

I pressed my hand to the door and traced the outlines of the faded oak. 

“You ready?” Cas asked, a big grin on his face. 

I looked toward him and couldn’t help but smile.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied.

I was about to turn back when suddenly I froze, the color drained from my face. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“What is it, what’s the matter?”

I couldn’t get the words out fast enough, as if my ability to speak had been drained.

“He’s behind you,” I yelled, but it was too late.

I stared as Cas dropped to his knees, a knife piercing through his heart.

“You thought you could defeat me with a little prayer and a burst of light,” Azazel cackled, pulling the knife from Cas’ chest and pushing him to the ground. 

“You’re mine soul!”

He lunged toward me, the knife in his hand. I dodged grabbing his arm and throwing him to the ground. Without thinking I ripped the feather from my neck. Azazel jumped toward me and slapped the feather from my hand. It landed about ten feet away from me. I crawled toward it, reaching as far as I could. Azazel grabbed my leg.

“I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said Azazel, pulling me in.

We came so far, how could this be happening now. No, no this was not going to happen, I was going home. I flipped over and kicked my free leg towards Azazel making contact with his head. He hit the ground and loosened his grip enough for me to escape. I scrambled toward the necklace. I grabbed it just as Azazel launched himself toward me. I closed my eyes and thrusted it toward him with all the strength I could. I hit something, but I didn’t know what. As I opened my eyes a wave of relief spread through my body. The feather imbedded itself into Azazel’s forehead the veins of light already spreading through his body until he finally turned into ash. The relief soon turned into panic when I heard a painful cough from behind me. It was Cas. I ran over to him and cradled him in my arms, golden blood dripping through my fingers.

“Hey it’s going to be okay,” I said, trying to hold back tears.

“Don’t kid yourself Dean this is it,” he said, his voice so soft it was barely audible.

“Don’t say that, you’re going to be fine, my doors right there, we can just get to Heaven and you will be all right,” I said, but even I started to doubt my own words.

“I’ve got to go Dean, but don’t worry you’ll see me again, I promise.”

“No, don’t, you don’t have to leave, just stay a little longer please,” I begged, putting my forehead to his.

“Looks like you get to be the guardian angel now,” he said reaching toward me.

He placed a finger on my chest and a burst of light shot through my body. My heart started to beat again, my eyes began to glow and tattoos spread across my body. 

“I love you,” Then his hand went limp.

“Cas, Cas don’t leave, please!”

He slowly began to fade from my arms and finally disappeared completely. Tears rolled down my face as I stood and walked over to Azazel’s ashes to retrieve the feather. A gust of wind blew across my face as if signaling me that it was time to go. I walked over to the door and wiped the tears from my face then grasped the chipping door handle and turned it. The door squeaked open and with no hesitation I entered the dark hallway with the light at the end of the tunnel. This was it. This was the end. Or so I thought.


	21. Beginning

 

The gates of Heaven were just as I remembered them, tall, golden and shiny. Ahead of me stood the head Gate Keeper behind his podium. He looked up as I walked toward him. 

“Welcome back Dean, it’s nice to see that you’ve joined us again. Oh and it says here you’ve become an angel as well. Aren’t you the lucky one?” said the Gatekeeper.

I had become an angel. With his final breaths Cas gave me the job of caring on his duties as an angel.

“If you could just sign here please,” said the Gatekeeper holding out a pen.

I signed the paper and the golden gates opened and the sound of trumpets filled the air. 

“Welcome to Heaven, Dean Winchester.”

First entering the gates everything was white. Silky white drapes hung from tall, white pillars and a golden road meandered through the hills of clouds. The air was pure and clean and smelled as if pollution never existed. This was the top floor of Heaven. I started walking down the golden road. My body felt weightless and my heart warm as if all the burdens, regrets and pain, which once coated my heart, had been lifted off. There was a couple people here and there, but one particular little boy caught my eye. He was small, maybe about five years old and was running toward me.

“Hi my name’s Castiel! What’s your name?” asked the little boy.

It was him, it was really Castiel. He was right, I did see him again.

“Hi Cas, my name is Dean.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. Dean sir,” he said giggling and then ran away, “bye!”

It was hard to believe that that small innocent little boy was the reason I was here today, the reason I’m still alive. If only he knew. But I knew. I grasped the feather around my neck in the palm of my hand. Yeah thats right, I knew.

“I love you to.”


	22. Second Chances

It was about four o'clock sharp when I arrived at Marty’s restaurant. The smell of hamburgers and fries filled the room. To my right, in the window booth, sat a young girl, no more than my age.

“So is this what you call paradise,” I asked, sliding into the booth across from her.

“Wait you can hear me?” asked the girl in surprise.

“Seems to be that way doesn’t it.”

“But how, how can you hear me?”

“I’m your guardian angel.”

“My guardian angel,” she restated to herself. “Wow.”

“Yup, so tell me kid, are you ready for a second chance?”


End file.
